YuGiOh! 5D's: The White Dragon Saga
by Bring
Summary: Akira, a lazy and otherwise unmotivated duelist, decides to enter a new duel monsters tournament. His goal is to meet Aki and hopefully find some answers to his recent dreams. However, Akira soon begins to find more than he asked for. Ch.12 up! AkixOC
1. Chapter 1: A New Challenger

Chapter 1: A New Challenger

"Now I'll attack your Infinity Dark (1500/1200) with my Elemental Hero- Flame Wingman (ATK 2100)! Attack with Sky Dive Scorcher!"

The duelist commands his Elemental Hero to attack. With one big leap, Flame Wingman flies high into the sky before coming back down in a flaming nose dive on the black fiend. In one big explosion, Infinity Dark is no more and the duelist, Akira, takes a big hit to his life points.

Akira: 2100

Tyson: 3000

"And don't forget about my wingman's special ability! When he destroys a monster in combat you take direct damage equal to your monster's attack points!"

Akira grits his teeth as the pressure of the duel begins to sink in.

Akira: 600

Tyson: 3000

Akira smiles at his opponent suddenly causing him to raise an eyebrow. "I special summon to the field Gorz the Emissary of Darkness (ATK 2700) in attack mode!"

"What!? You can't summon a monster during my turn! Even more so a level 7 monster at…"

"You're wrong! I can and I did. You see if I take damage from a card my opponent controls while I control no cards, I can special summon Gorz from my hand to the field. In addition, depending on what type of damage I take, I can activate a second ability. In this case I get to inflict damage direct damage to you equal to the amount of damage I took."

"WHAT! That's not fair!"

Tyson jumped back as he came to realize that Gorz had leaped up above him. He shields his face with his duel disk as Gorz comes down on his life points with a powerful sword slash.

Akira: 600

Tyson: 1500

Gorz returns to Akira's side of the field as Tyson lowers his arms and recovers from the attack. The fact that he could go from such a huge lead to a small one irritated him greatly. "I switch my Wingman into defense mode and place one face -down. That's all for now, I end my turn."

Akira nods to his opponent and draws a card from his deck. Upon looking at the cards in his hand and to Gorz card on his field, Akira closed his eyes and smiled to himself. "You're pretty good. I'm really sorry to say this buuuut this duel is over." Akira removes a card from his hand and places it on his duel disk next to Gorz, "First I'm summoning Snipe Hunter (ATK 1500) in attack mode!"

A purple imp-like monster in a black leather outfit pops up next Akira wielding an odd looking gun.

"Next, I'm activating my Snipe Hunter's special ability! By discarding a card from my hand, I can select one card on the field and roll a six-sided die. If the number that comes up isn't a 1 or a 6, I can instantly destroy that card. And the card I'm choosing is your Elemental Hero- Flame Wingman!"

Tyson's jaw drops at the sudden change in power. With no other monsters on the field without his Flame Wingman he'd be open for a direct attack. At least that's what he wanted Akira to believe. His face down trap Mirror Force would activate the minute one of his monsters declared an attack.

The dial on Snipe Hunter's gun began to spin. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife as the dial began to slow down and slowly tick between numbers. With one last tick, the spinner finally landed on 3.

"Yes! Now, Snipe Hunter, take out his Flame Wingman!"

The imp-like fiend flew into the air as the number 3 shined at the end of its gun. With one well aimed bullet, Snipe Hunter destroyed Tyson's Flame Wingman, sending it to the graveyard in a cloud of dust. Tyson clenches his fist and grinds his teeth even more.

"You done yet?" Tyson snarls.

"Nope. I'm just getting started actually." Akira takes another card from his hand and plays it, "Next I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your face-down card!"

Tyson's eyes widened as he watched his Mirror Force along with any other hope of victory were destroyed by a powerful gust of wind. Akira smiles and nods his head as he points to his opponent and gives the final command.

"Now Gorz, finish this!"

***

The teenager Akira makes his way out of the dueling arena and into the waiting lobby where other duelist were waiting. At first glance he seemed like a rather average duelist; unruly black hair, green eyes, with a black shirt, with blue pants and a blazer. However, what set him apart from the rest was his exceptional skill as a duelist. In truth Akira had just assembled his deck that morning and entered the new city tournament that same afternoon. Since then, he'd won all five of his preliminary matches with no prior knowledge of what was in his deck.

As Akira came to an open seat, he sat down and looked at the duel deck in his hand. Putting on a somewhat worried expression, Akira runs his fingers through his hair and scratches his head in thought.

"Who am I kidding? I haven't dueled since Duel Academy. There's no way I'll get past the first round. Not like this anyways…"

The decision to enter the Duel Tournament was last minute and Akira felt he was ill prepared. The last time he was actually in any duels prior to this tournament was during his time at Duel Academy a couple of years ago. Since then he'd but his deck down and spent most of his time developing other skills and talents. Needless to say, he hadn't developed his deck since and was a little behind in terms of the latest dueling trends. His current deck lacked any type of Synchro Monsters and was consisted mainly of older cards. This made Akira doubt his ability to compete.

"Well I suppose it's not a bad deck still", Akira forces a smile; "I may just have to adjust to a few things."

"Yo Akira!"

Akira turns not expecting someone from this area to know him. Approaching him was his opponent from his previous match. Tyson was a boy around his age with blue hair and a baseball cap. He walked with his hands in his pockets and stopped before Akira with a friendly smile.

"Hey dude, you've got some pretty sweet moves. Maybe even sweeter than mine."

"Thanks. Tyson right? I appreciate the compliment. You really had me worried there for a minute."

"Yeah, I might've been able to win if I ran my usual deck but a win is a win right. Oh, and before I forget."

Akira looks at Tyson confused as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a card and hands it to Akira. After looking at it for awhile, he takes it and sees that it's the monster card Blizzard Dragon.

"What's this? What are you giving me this card for?"

"Well I've heard that these tournament preliminaries aren't meant to eliminate any competitors before the actually rounds begin."

"They're not?" Akira asks confused.

"Right. They're actually set up to determine some weird kind of tier system. You see, this tournament is actually gonna be based off of the original Duel City Tournament if I'm not mistaken."

"Well that still doesn't tell me why you're giving me this card."

"Consider it a gift of sorts" Tyson says dismissively as he leans against the wall near Akira. "Don't worry about it dude, if this tournament is anything like the original Duel City Tournament, I plan on winning a lot more cards."

Akira laughs slightly and places the card in his pocket. Tyson looks around for a second before looking back at Akira with a raised eyebrow.

"So man, why'd you enter this competition anyway? You don't really seem all that excited."

Akira is taken aback by Tyson's sudden question. He scratches the back of his head as he smiles goofily and raises his head up. His eyes look across the room causing Tyson to direct his attention to the same thing. A crowd of duelist who'd all finished with their duels had crowded around a large monitor mounted on the wall. On it, two duelists had just finished their final preliminary match. As the dust settled, the camera zoomed in on the victor. Standing calm and collected before the arena was the duelist known as the Black Rose Witch, Aki Izayoi.


	2. Chapter 2: Goals

Chapter 2: Goals

"So then she's famous?"

"You can say that…"

Akira nervously answers his new friend's question as he places money in the vending machine. His friend sits down on the red couch in the small resting area as he pops the top of his soda and looks up at Akira.

"Lemme guess, you've got the hots for her right?"

Akira is shocked once again by Tyson's sudden comment and accidentally presses the wrong button on the machine. He swears under his breath.

"Can't say I blame ya though man. She is pretty cute after all; nice hair, easy on the eyes…" Tyson throws his arm over the couch and grins slyly at his friend, "And her body..."

Akira opens the green tea he received from the machine and takes a quick sip. He sighs and looks at Tyson with an irritated look. "It's not like that." He tells a half-truth. "I just wanted to talk to her, nothing more. I doubt she even knows I exist anyways."

"Tsch. Whatever dude. I'm just saying if you don't ask her out first, then I will."

Akira sits down across from Tyson showing clear sighs of annoyance. He slowly increased his grip on the bottle in his hand and a vein throbbed in his forehead. Tyson just laughed at his friend to annoy him even more.

After a brief moment of silence between the two, Tyson shakes his soda and smiles at Akira. Still annoyed, Akira looks up and prepares to make a comeback.

"Don't worry about it Akira."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Akira hisses.

"I'm telling you not to worry about that girl." Tyson smiles "I doubt she'll care to talk to me after I'm done dueling her anyway."

Again Akira is lost. This boy was starting to make him feel slow. "And what does that mean?"

Tyson finishes his soda and crushes the can in his hand. "Aki Izayoi, holder of the Black Rose Dragon. She's on my list. For all that's worth to you."

The boy smiles grins to himself once again as Akira looks at him skeptically. Tyson gets up from his seat and shoots the can at the trash can. He hits the rim and misses.

***

"AACHUUU!"

Aki Izayoi groans as she recovers from her sneeze and does her best to hide her sniffle. Her sneeze catches the attention of her friend and fellow Signer, Yusei Fudo.

"Are you okay Aki? That's the fourth time today. Are you sure you're not coming down with something?" He asks as he approaches her to see if she's okay.

"No. I'm fine. Someone must just be talking about me, though I'm not really sure who would be."

Aki waves her hand throw the air to show Yusei that she's really okay. He nods and walks over to the nearby chair and sits crossing his arms. He closes his eyes and begins to think deeply about something. Seeing this, Aki tenses up and grips her dress.

"Anything?" Yusei asks a simple and straightforward question.

"Sorry but no." Aki looks down at her lap with a downcast expression. She lifts her arm with the birthmark of the crimson dragon and gently rubs it. "I haven't felt anything like that time since we've arrived here. Maybe it was a mistake and the birthmark was just acting up."

Aki looks to Yusei for reassurance but once their eyes met Yusei only shook his head.

"I'm not sure exactly that that's the case. I might've been able to believe you if it was just you who felt anything. However, we both know that's not the case. My mark of the crimson dragon definitely responded to whatever it was back then too. I know it sounds strange, but that feeling back then was similar to the feeling we got from the Dark Signers while at the same time it feels like it could be one of us. That's why even if it means entering this tournament we can't just let this go."

Yusei's words made a lot of sense. After she'd met him in the Fortune Cup, Aki always did kind of admire Yusei. He was a strong and caring person who was also a natural born leader. If it weren't for him, she might not be able to sit around and enjoy duel monsters like she could now. But still she wasn't quite convinced.

"Yusei, even if you say that… something… really feels off. That feeling back then wasn't right. It was so…lonely."

***

Akira looks off into the distance as if someone had called his name. As he came back to reality, he figured it must've looked really odd; a boy sitting down and looking up at the ceiling into the light for no apparent reason. But of course what he looked like never really mattered to him.

"DAMMIT AKIRA! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING!?"

Akira lowers his head from the ceiling to find Tyson standing in front of him. His arms were crossed and he seemed rather pissed to say the least.

"No I wasn't actually. What do you want?" Akira asks blankly.

"They just explained the rules for the tournament dude!" Tyson groans and hands Akira a duel monsters card with a white rose on it. "Hold onto that. That shows that you're in the tournament and that you made it through all five preliminary matches undefeated."

Akira glances at the card in his hand as he stands up. "So is the tournament starting right now?"

"Nah, we can go home for the day and ready our decks for the first round tomorrow." Tyson rushes over to Akira and gets him in a side head lock causing Akira to panic and struggle. "Come on pal, I'll fill you in on the rules on our way home okay!"

Tyson pulls Akira along with him as the exits the waiting area and the building. Much to Akira's dismay, Tyson's hold on him was too strong and no matter how much he tried, he couldn't free himself.

"Hey! Let me go!"

At that moment, their eyes met. As the two of them passed by, Akira and Aki looked deep into each other's eyes even though it was only for a split second. The two gazed at each other with blank expressions as the distance between them grew. Coming to his senses, Akira tries to call out to Aki but it was already too late. Her image had disappeared into the crowd of duelist and was no longer anywhere to be seen. Disappointed with himself for missing his chance, Akira ends his struggling with Tyson and fell into silence.

As the two friends exited the building through the main entrance, a young and wild looking girl watches them from a nearby column. She smirks to herself and calls the first contact on her cellphone.

"Hey. It's Iori. I think I've found what we're looking for. Two guys just walked by and the stone gave a definite reading. Now the question is which one of them has the White Dragon."

The girl seemed like the type that would draw attention. She had long black hair that reached the mid-section of her back with cooper eyes. She was dressed in a short-sleeve black shirt which seemed rather loose but still managed to show her stomach. Her jeans were worn of course, with the left pants leg cut off to reveal her slender leg. To top things off, she wore laced boots but perhaps the most peculiar piece of all was the stone tied to her wrist.

"Okay, I've got it." The girl looks around the column in the direction the two boys went. "I'll test them and find out who has what we need."


	3. Chapter 3: A Midnight Duel

Chapter 3: Midnight Duel

Night has fallen on Neo Domino City. The streets are just about empty as everyone has gone home from a long day at work and the couples rap their dates up. On the far side of town, Tyson exits a card shop just as they close with a wide grin on his face.

"Sweet! I'll be unstoppable now that I've revamped my deck. I can't wait to start winning some rare cards tomorrow in the tournament!"

Tyson throws his arms up as he cheers to his future victory. He places his hands behind his head as he walks down the street and begins to fantasize about going against dueling legends such as Jack Atlus, Yusei Fudo, and even Yugi Moto. He laughs mischievously as he envisions himself being crowded the champion only to be showered in girls soon after.

"Oh man! I can't wait!"

With the hour ticking by and the moon sinking behind the clouds, Tyson decides to take a shortcut to his apartment. He turns down a back alleyway and makes his way out to another road. As he turns towards his next destination, he spots a girl leaning against the wall through the corner of his eye.

"Huh?" Tyson stops to check the girl out as well as rate her looks.

The girl looks up at him and smiles softly. "Hey there. Would you mind helping me something real quick?"

"What, ya lost or something?" Tyson's voice was full of energy as he propped his hand up on the wall next to her.

The girl shakes her head and removes herself from the wall. She walks past Tyson and takes a few steps out into the street with whimsical steps. Tyson just blinks and watches.

"You see I'm kind of looking for something but it's not something you can find by normal means. And you see a reliable source of mine believes that you have what I'm looking for."

Tyson felt a chill go up his spine as the girl turned back to face him with an ominous smile. "Soooo… just what exactly is this thing you're looking for and how exactly do you find it?" Tyson gets of the wall and turns to face the mysterious girl.

"Well, as for what I'm looking for, I can't tell you right now. But in terms of how I find it…" The girl points to a bag on the ground near Tyson's feet. Looking down, he notices an old duel disk. When he turns his attention back to the girl he sees her strapping on her own duel disk and readying her deck.

"Hmph. Alrighty then. I'm not too sure what's going on here but I don't mind a little quick duel." Tyson wedges his foot under the bag and kicks the bag into the air so he can grab the duel disk. "By the way, what's your name cutie?" Tyson smiles confidently at his opponent as he prepares himself for the duel.

The girl smiles and raises her duel disk, "Tsumura, Iori Tsumura."

As if her name was a type of command, the area around the two teens what surrounded by a glowing green barrier. Green light raced across the contained area as it traced and outlined odd symbols and a large star beneath their feet. Tyson looked at the odd ritual circle. He finally began to feel the seriousness of the situation as sweat rolled down his temple.

"Duel!" The two declare at the same time.

Tyson: 4000

Iori: 4000

"Ladies first!" Iori draws a card and places it in her hand before taken another out. "I summon Volcanic Slicer (ATK 1800) in attack mode. Your move."

A metal like dinosaur appears next to Iori and lets out a menacing roar. Tyson remains calm as he draws his card to start his turn. He found it weird that this girl would end her turn without setting any face-downs to defend her monster. Tyson was familiar with Volcanic Slicer's special ability and it seemed like it would've been better played on a later turn.

"I summon Luster Dragon (ATK 1900)!" Tyson plays his powerful dragon monster and summons it to the field. "Attack!"

Luster Dragon soars and attacks Iori's Volcanic Slicer and easily destroys it. However, even with her monster destroyed, Iori showed no sign of panic. This made Tyson uneasy and he decided to call it a turn.

Tyson: 4000

Iori: 3900

"I'll throw two face downs and end my turn."

Iori draws her card and giggles playfully. "You know you can tell a lot about a person by the way they duel. Your Luster Dragon is pretty powerful for its level. I'm guessing you prefer an aggressive play style; a beat-down deck. You must be a very headstrong person."

Tyson smiles slightly at the comment.

"I summon to the field Cyber Tutu!" a pink haired girl in a red outfit and tutu appears on the field. "Thanks to my Tutu's special ability, if there aren't any monsters on the field with fewer attack points than her, she can attack your life points directly! Go Cyber Tutu"

Cyber Tutu springs forward gracefully and passes by Tyson's Luster Dragon. Before Tyson had the time to jump back, Cyber Tutu performed a spinning pirouette kick and strikes him in the stomach. Much to his surprise, Tyson actually feels pain as he doubles over holding his stomach.

Tyson: 3000

Iori: 3900

"What the hell is this? That attack was real!"

"Just ignore that for now will ya. I'm not done seeing if you possess the White Dragon."

"White…Dragon?" Tyson asks as he forces himself to his feet.

Iori only continues to smile as she takes two more cards from her hand. "I'll place two face-downs and end my turn."

Tyson still hadn't recovered from the previous attack and was gasping for air. He clenches his fist and draws another card from his deck. "I equip my monster with Horn of the Unicorn and attack Cyber Tutu!" Tyson plays the equip spell from his hand raising his monster's attack by 700 raising it to a total of 2600. Luster Dragon charges at Cyber Tutu.

"Too bad. I activate my trap card, Mirror Gate!"

Iori's trap card flips face up and in the blink of an eye the monsters switch places. Now Iori's Luster Dragon was attacking Tyson's Cyber Tutu. With a fatal swoop and a blood-chilling cry, Luster Dragon finishes Cyber Tutu and Tyson's life points take another big hit.

Tyson: 1400

Iori: 3900

Tyson falls to his knees and starts to cough uncontrollably. It felt like his insides were burning and his bones were beginning to melt through his very pores. He struggles to lift his head. His vision was blurry and he could hardly see his Luster Dragon before his eyes.

"I guess he doesn't have it after all. I guess I should go ahead and wrap this up so I can track down that other guy." Iori whispers her own thoughts.

"Ha-ha."

Iori looks up suddenly. Tyson was once again climbing to his feet and he appeared to be laughing. Confused and somewhat annoyed now, Iori frowns at the sight.

"Man. Screw this! I thought I'd try the whole pretend-to- lose thing so I could get some answers from you, but I guess that just isn't my style. Truth is I could've won this duel on my first turn." Tyson smiles confidently as he points to himself.

"I don't have time to play with you anymore boy! You clearly aren't the one I'm looking for! Now if you don't mind, I'll begin my turn!" Iori hisses at Tyson as she draws another card. "I summon Speed Warrior (ATK 900) in attack mode!" A mechanical soldier appears next to Iori. "On the turn that Speed Warrior is summoned to the field his attack points double! Now Speed Warrior, attack his life points directly!"

Speed Warrior runs on its skates as its attack points double to 1800. It jumps onto its hands and spins in a break dance style kick to strike Tyson's life points directly.

"I activate my trap, Negate Attack!"

Tyson's trap flips up and activates causing Speed Warrior to stop in its tracks and return to Iori's side of the field. Iori's eyes narrow and she bites her tongue to keep from swearing out loud. Her opponent was wasting her time now.

"Well I can still attack with Luster Dragon! Go Luster Dragon! End this farce now!"

Iori points and commands her dragon to attack. As the dragon closes in on his life points Tyson only smiles and presses a button on his duel disk.

"I activate my second trap, Half or Nothing!"

"What!? What in the world does that card do?"

"It's really simple actually, lil lady. You see, I can only activate this card during your battle phase. Afterwards, you have to make the choice of either cutting your monster's attack points in half for the remainder of the battle phase or just ending the battle phase all together."

Iori was beginning to lose her patience with this boy as shown by her expression, "I choose to half his attacks points of course." She stated with disdain.

Luster Dragon's attack points dropped to 1300 as it breathed out a streak of sparkling white flames. The flames strike the ground in front of Tyson and the resulting explosion sent him flying backwards into the green barrier. He uses all of his strength to remain standing because there wasn't a doubt in his mind that if he fell down again he wouldn't be able to get back up.

Tyson: 100

Iori: 3900

"My turn", Tyson draws a card and smiles, "Sorry, but this duel is over!"

"Did you hit your head or something!? I have two monsters to your zero and 3900 life points to you 100!"

"Geez! You honestly have no imagination do you? I summon my Lord of Dragons in attack mode!" A dark-skinned spellcaster with skeletal garments appears next to Tyson. "Next I place one face down and then I activate the spell card Dark Hole!"

"What!? That card will destroy everything on the field! Why would you play cards if you were going to do that!?"

Iori shields her face with her duel disk as a strong wind picks up. A black hole appears in the center of the field and begins to draw everything in. Iori watches helplessly as her Luster Dragon, Speed Warrior, and face-downs all get sucked up into the black hole and get destroyed. As the black hole closed up, the wind died down and vanished and Iori could finally see normally again.

"What!?"

Surprisingly, Tyson's monster was unaffected by Dark Hole. Seeking an explanation, Iori saw a trap that had flipped up on Tyson's side of the field, Dragon Tribe. It was a normal trap card that changed the monster type of Tyson's monster to a dragon type. She then realized that because of Lord of Dragon's special ability because he became a dragon type he became immune to Tyson's spell. Iori clenches her fists for having been so careless.

"You said you can tell a lot about a person from the way they dueled. I didn't really get to see a lot of your deck but from what I've seen you have some low level monsters in your deck. I don't know if you have any Synchro Monsters but I reasoned that you used trap cards to control the flow of battle. Am I right so far?"

Iori swears.

"Heh, I guess I was then. Knowing that I went out on a limb and used Dark Hole assuming you didn't have any face-downs that defended against spell activation. Its good to know that luck was on my side."

"Shut-up! You talk to damn much! You think this is a game but its not!" the girl finally loses her cool.

"Sorry toots. Maybe you can tell me all about it after I win this duel. With Lord of Dragons still on my field I activate the spell card The Flute of Summoning Dragon! This allows me to special summon from my deck two dragons! And I choose my Tyrant Dragon and Luster Dragon #2!"

A dragon shaped yellow flute appears in the hand of Tyson's monster. Almost as soon as the spellcaster raises the flute to his mouth, two dragons appear directly behind him. One dragon is a fierce looking orange dragon while the other is a large green dragon with crystals growing from its body. The roar that the two beasts unleash create a massive wind that shook the very ground.

Iori could feel her heart beating in her chest as she looked on in complete terror. The pain of her heart feeling like it was going to leap out of her chest was strong enough to make her faint by itself.

"And that's game cutie."

Tyson points his finger at Iori commanding all of monsters to attack at once. As his monster's closed in, all of Iori's thought process left her. All she could do was scream at the top of her lungs as the field was consumed in one final explosion.

Tyson: 100

Iori: 0

Without the duel barrier to support him anymore, Tyson is thrown back several feet by the shockwave. He lands roughly and rolls across the pavement just outside the cloud of dust. After a couple of seconds he manages to move his head enough for him to look up ahead. The dust was clearing and signs of the duel monsters were nonexistent. The only evidence left of the duel was a small crater in the middle of the street. In the center was Iori, slightly burned, battered, and unconscious.

"Darn…" Tyson raises his weak arm and uses it to drag himself along the ground. "Hey! You okay?"

Tyson raises his arm once more only to have it drop back to the ground.

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**Featured Card:**

**Apprentice Dragon Lord**

4 Stars/DARK/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK 1000/DEF 1000

This card's name is treated as "Lord of D." while face-up on the field. While this card remains face-up on the field, all Dragon-type monsters on your side of the field cannot be targeted by Spell Cards, Trap Cards, or Effect Monster's effects.


	4. Chapter 4: Puzzling Dream

**Author's Note: **Bring is not a character based off of me. I wrote this chapter before I actually made the account. Please let me know what you think of the story so far.

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Chapter 4: Puzzling Dream, Awaken the Power Within

On the other side of town, Akira wakes up in his bed breaking out in a sweat. Upon touching his forehead he finds out that he's actually pretty cold but his sweat was still hot. The contradiction made little sense to him but he figured there were weirder things in life. He throws back the cover and makes his way to the balcony. He looks over Neo Domino City, breathes in deep, and lets the cool night air whip at his face.

"It was the same thing again."

For a few weeks now Akira had been having strange dreams. The dreams started out as visions of Aki walking down a dark path. Naturally he didn't think it was odd at first for him to be dreaming about someone as cute as Aki, but the dreams only got weirder from there. He would later find himself chasing Aki down the same dark road calling out her name. In each dream, no matter how fast he ran or how much he called her name, Aki never responds and is consumed by a veil of shadows. Those dreams went on for about a two weeks.

But the recent dreams placed him before a white dragon made of pure light. This dream completely replaced the dreams of Aki and were by far the most realistic.

_-Do you desire power?-_

Those were the words that rung in the back of his head every time he was faced with the divine beast.

"Aki…what does it all mean?" Akira asks a question to someone who's not there.

Suddenly, Akira's head snaps up as he gazes into the distance. He didn't know why but it was as if a switch went off in the back of his head. Something was telling him that he needed to go back into the city now.

_-Do you desire power?-_

Those words echo in his head once again as he grabs his jacket off the coat rack and runs out the front door.

***

Yusei, Jack, Crow, and Aki run through the dark streets of Neo Domino City. Aki and Yusei had decided to do a quick patrol of the city after they'd left the tournament preliminaries. Ultimately their patrol was unsuccessful. However, on their way over by Yusei's shop the group, the group heard a large explosion in the downtown area. What was odd to them was that the explosion made each of their marks react but only for a few seconds.

Police and Security cars were already speeding to the area which made it easy for the group to find.

"Does anyone have any idea as to what's going on here!?" Jack asks irritant.

"No idea. But what ever it is it can't be normal." Crow states the obvious.

As the group prepares to turn around another block, Aki stops suddenly and looks in the opposite direction. Yusei is the first to stop and Jack and Crow soon do the same. Two figures make their way out of the shadows and step out into the street; an injured Tyson carrying an unconscious Iori.

Aki and the group gasp causing Tyson to finally look up in a daze. He looks first at Yusei, Jack, and Crow before directing his attention to Aki who was closest to him.

"Hey, …you're that girl." he couldn't help but utter a weak laugh.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Tyson opens his mouth to answer but soon finds himself without energy again. He stumbles forward on his right leg and falls towards the ground. Aki instinctively springs forward to catch him but forgets to compensate for the unconscious girl. Before she hits the ground along with Tyson and Aki, Yusei and Crow run up behind her and give her support. Yusei takes Iori into his arms and Crow slings Tyson's arm over his shoulder.

"What was that all about? And what's up with these guys? They're all bruised up! You don't think they were involved in that explosion do you?" Crow stares at the girl in Yusei's arms to examine her injuries.

"I don't know", Yusei shakes his head, "For now, we should get these two over to the hospital. Once they wake up, then we can ask them if they know anything about all of this."

Crow and the others nod in agreement. As the others turn to head for the hospital, Yusei looks down at the girl in his arms. His eyes become fixated on the white stone tied securely to her wrist. For a second, Yusei could've shown his mark caused him a great deal of pain.

***

Akira runs towards the downtown area. Originally he was just running without direction because his body told him to. Now he was running recklessly towards the police sirens which had just recently settled in a single area.

Akira makes a sharp turn into an alley and hits his shoulder against the wall. He stumbles, catches himself, and overcomes obstacles after obstacle with a ragged breath. He was only a handful of blocks away from his destination and the closer he got, the more his mind burned. He realizes that at some point in time he must've convinced himself that he'd find the answers he needed there.

"You're running awfully fast."

Akira stops mid-step and plants his foot on the ground. How he managed to run like that baffled him because his leg felt like lead and his lungs were expanding so much they'd explode.

"You know in this situation someone like you seems awfully guilty."

Resisting the urge to collapse, Akira finally turns to the source of the voice. A boy, about his age was approaching him slowly. He screamed troublemaker; he wore a black jacket with a white fur collar and a smile that was more ominous than friendly. As if that wasn't enough, the scar across his nose seemed to mark him as more of a criminal than any satellite marking ever could.

"What's up with the glare? You aren't _really_ dangerous are you?" the stranger widens his smile.

"Sorry, but I'm in a bit of a rush."

Akira turns to resume running but is soon pulled back. Akira looks over his shoulder and follows the outstretched hand to the stranger's glaring eyes.

"What's the rush? No time for small talk? That pretty cold ya know."

Akira swipes away the boy's hand and steps backwards. He was quickly losing his patience and pure hostility was filling the void.

"Look, I don't have anything of value on me right now! So if you don't mind pal I'd like to get going now! There's somewhere I have to be!"

The boy drops the duffel bag he'd been carrying up until now causing Akira to distance himself even more. The blonde boy takes a duel disk out of the bag and tosses it to Akira before taking the second one out for himself. Akira could only look with a tense expression.

"You won't find your answers there, Akira Moriyama."

Akira didn't say anything. To the boy's surprise he simply placed the duel disk on his arm and just stood there. The boy laughs lightly as he reaches into his coat pocket and steps forward. He pulls out a deck, Akira's deck, and holds it out with another smile. With unchanging emotion, Akira holds out his hand and takes his deck.

"Hm. My name's Bring." The mysterious blonde turns and walks to start the duel. "Lighten up by the way man. You act as if the world is about to end."

The way those words rolled off his tongue just made Akira twitch in anger.

Akira: 4000

Bring: 4000

"I'll start off then!" Akira declares as he draws his first card. "I'll start off by summoning my Rockstone Warrior (ATK 1800) in attack mode." A soldier of brown stone appears next to Akira. "I place one face-down and end my turn."

Bring nods with another sinister smile and draws his card. "I summon Glyph Box (DEF 1500) in defense mode. I'll also place one face-down card and end my turn as well."

A weird chest made of stone and covered in glowing glyphs appears next to Bring.

"Why don't you tell what your game is? Why are you doing this and why did you have my deck? What exactly do you seek to gain from this?" Akira tried hard to remain calm as he listened to the sirens in the background.

Bring mockingly assumed a thinking face, "Don't exactly know. I was actually hoping you'd just duel right and we'd both find that out."

"Spare me..."

"It's the truth. Your friend from the tournament prelims kinda didn't have it and KO'ed my partner. Soooo I had to get my hands dirty." Bring shrugs.

"Tyson…?"

"Come on! At least make another move! All this talk is boring me to tears!"

Akira takes a deep breath in response and begins is next turn with a dissatisfied expression. He draws a card and looks at the field. The fact that his opponent played a weaker monster was suspicious. Bring probably had a face-down trap that would activate when Akira attacked or his monster had an effect that would cause trouble. So he had one safe way to go about it.

"First I'll summon my Infinity Dark (ATK 1500) in ATK mode." The black warrior appears in a flash of light. "Then I'll play my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your face down card."

A gale of wind swept across the field and directed itself at Bring's side of the field. Just as Bring raises his arms to shield his face, his face-down Mirror Force is sent flying into the air and explodes into thousands of pieces.

With the wind dying, Akira began his attack. "Now Rockstone Warrior, attack his Glyph Box!"

The soldier of stone raises its body and pointed its arms at the small box. Stones which formed the monster's arms quickly became projectiles which fired at Bring's Glyph Box, destroying it with little effort. The resulting shockwave crushed the ground beneath it and sent a strong gust blowing past Bring.

"Now, attack his life points directly Infinity Dark!"

The dark warrior leaps forward from Akira's front line and aims directly at Bring's life points.

"Slow down there." Three beams of light shoot out of Bring's deck and crash down on the field before him. Akira's monster halts its attack as there giant stones materialize on Bring's field. "You see, when my Glyph Box is destroyed as a result of battle, I'm allowed to summon my Glyph Ruby (DEF 0), my Glyph Topaz (DEF 0), and my Glyph Diamond (DEF 0) from my deck to my field."

Akira thought it odd that he would summon three monsters with zero attack and defense points. Something was up. "That still doesn't matter. With zero defense points those monsters of yours won't put up much of a defense. Infinity Dark, attack his Glyph Topaz!"

Akira's monster resumed its attack. With a powerful punch, Infinity Dark lands a direct hit on Bring's monster. A shockwave resonates off the face of Bring's stone and causes Bring to flinch slightly in pain.

Akira: 4000

Bring: 2500

"My Glyph Topaz can't be destroyed in battle thanks to my Glyph Ruby's special ability. In addition, because I took battle damage I'm allowed to special summon my Glyph Emerald (DEF 0) from my hand." Bring takes a card from his hand places it on his duel disk. A large emerald covered in glowing glyphs appears on Bring's field. "And thanks to my monster's special ability, you take direct damage equal to the amount I took this turn."

Bring's gem monster released a blinding green glow causing Akira to squint his eyes.

Akira: 2500

Bring: 2500

"You know you surprise me Akira. You're a lot more level-headed than I thought you were. You don't even seem that bothered by this situation. And your abilities as a duelist…"

Akira could feel his hand jump.

"The weird wind and your monsters actually crushing the ground around us." Bring looks down to where Akira's Rockstone Warrior destroyed the ground. "You're a psychic aren't you?"

Akira narrows his glare.

"Though I suspect you're different from the other psychics I've encountered. You seem to have complete control over your power and you're even able to minimize the amount of damage you do."

"I place one face-down and end my turn." Akira interrupts by placing one face-down card on his field.

Bring just shrugs and laughs as he begins his turn. "I sacrifice my Glyph Topaz to summon Dark Heretic Zor (ATK 0)." Bring's Topaz shatters into thousands of pieces revealing a man dressed in dark robes and symbols all over his skin. "Now Akira, the games will really begin."

A ring of green light suddenly imprisoned the two in a barrier. Akira jumped back as the light traced along the ground forming a type of seal.

"I think this will even the playing field a little. And as for my Zor, he gains 700 Attack and Defense for each Glyph monster on my field. That gives him 2100 attack and defense and I'll use all of them to crush your Infinity Dark."

All of the Glyph monsters formed a circle around Bring's Zor and began to spin at a high speed. The symbols on Zor's skin began to glow as he raised his hand and fired an energy beam which completely destroyed Akira's monster. The explosion creates a powerful gale of wind which swept up Akira's body as if it were a leaf. With a loud thud, Akira's body slams against the barrier and crashes down to the ground.

Akira: 1900

Bring: 2500

"Now, I may not be a psychic but I think I can brawl with the best of them." Bring pats himself on the back as he watches over Akira expectantly. "And now I wait."

***

A dark world that takes light and dyes is black with the deepest and darkest fears of man. In this dark world is a single road that winds and wanders into eternal darkness forever.

On this road is a single person, Akira, traveling the road in utter confusion.

"It this place again. Am I dreaming again? Or am I just unconscious?"

Akira stops walking forward as he sees a familiar person ahead of him. He could see the back of Aki, just like in his dreams, as the distance grew between them. Akira's expression becomes one of sorrow as he kills the instincts of his heart and turns in the opposite direction.

Just as he does so. Aki's presence disappears as a veil of shadows wraps around her and consumes her slowly. The whole time she screamed for someone, anyone, to help her. Her pleas for help finally reached Akira's back and became a black bloom with ensnared and froze Akira in place. Nevertheless, Akira didn't turn back even as one last plea escaped Aki's lips.

Akira grits his teeth and clenches his fist as he condemns himself "Sorry Aki, but I'll never get anywhere like this." With that, Akira begins walking forward once again?

_-Why did you not try to save her?-_

"Because I'd be beating a dead horse. I won't get anywhere if I keep going in that direction." Akira responds to the mysterious voice without pause. He'd heard it time and time again in his dreams so now he was simply used to it.

_-Have you forsaken your dream of saving her?-_

Akira stops walking and laughs to himself. Was his dream really to save Aki? Sure he wanted to meet her but he never thought that she needed to be saved, except in his dreams.

"No. I haven't forsaken my dream of saving her because I don't believe she needs to be saved. However, if she does need to be saved then I will save her."

_-Then why do you not go forward? Why do you turn your back on your path?-_

Akira thinks for a moment before he smiles to himself and begins walking again. "Humor me, but who's to say that the path I'm taking now isn't forward? If one were to walk forward one way but then turn around and keep walking in that direction could you not call that forward? I'm convinced now that I've actually been walking backwards this whole time."

_-Why do you believe so?-_

"Because no matter how hard I may try, what's behind me won't change. On the other hand, I have no idea of what is now in front of me."

The disembodied voice doesn't respond this time. Instead, what follows is silence with the echo of Akira's steps being thing heard for minutes on end.

Eventually Akira comes to a fork in the road. A single road on the right and a single road on the left.

_-The road to your right is one of salvation. It shall lead you down a path which will bring suffering to others, but protect those closest to you.-_

Akira simply placed his hands in his pockets and laughed to himself. "And the other?"

_-The other road shall take you down a road of destruction. It shall protect those around you, but will bring suffering to those closest to you.-_

"Then the answer is simple right?" Akira puts on a somewhat sad smile.

Silence falls again.

_-Have you given up on that girl?-_

"…No. But right now I can't do anything for her. I have to gain the strength to protect her. I can't afford to keep looking back anymore."

_-Do you desire power?-_

Akira smiles after hearing the same question which had plagued him for so long once again.

"I don't desire power. I simply wish to discover my own power. The power to protect everyone dear to me and the power to make all of their dreams come true."

A blinding light shines through the darkness and descends before Akira. In the center of the light is a great white dragon whose very essence felt like a grand dream.

_-I have seen your intentions and witnessed the extent of your will. Remember Akira, a dream so powerful may someday become as real as reality itself.-_

***

Bring looks over Akira with a bored expression. It had been about ten minutes sense the boy had taken the hit and went unconscious. Maybe if it had been Iori waiting wouldn't be so tedious, but it was practically Hell to Bring.

"I should've just stayed home and play video games all day. This is getting stupid."

"No one's stopping you ya know."

Akira picks his body off the ground and stood up on one knee.

"You finally up? Its about time. I hope you're still feeling good enough to get thrashed."

Akira laughs slightly at the comment as he picks himself up even more. Bring blinks suddenly realizing that something was different about his opponent. He showed no sighs previous fatigue and his hair seemed slightly spikier. But the most noticeable thing of all was how his previously green eyes were now glowing a brilliant blue.

"Oh?" Bring tilts his chin upwards in interest. "That's an interesting trick."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Featured Cards:**

**Glyph Box**

3 Stars/EARTH/Rock/Effect/ATK 0/DEF 1500

When this monster is destroyed as a result of battle and sent to the graveyard, you may special summon up to 3 Hieroglyph monsters from your deck.

**Glyph Ruby**

3 Stars/FIRE/Rock/Effect/ATK 0/DEF 0

You take no battle damage from battles involving this card. While this card is face up on the field, all monsters on your side of the field except this one can't be destroyed in battle. Battle damage is still calculated.

**Glyph Topaz**

3 Stars/EARTH/Rock/Effect/ATK 0/DEF 0

While this card is face-up on the field, only one monster can declare an attack during each player's turns.

**Glyph Diamond**

5 Stars/LIGHT/Rock/Effect/ATK 0/ DEF 0

While this monster is in face up defense position, your opponent cannot activate the effects of level 5 and below monsters.

**Glyph Emerald**

4 Stars/WIND/Rock/Effect/ATK 0/DEF 0

You may special summon this card to the field when you take battle damage from one of your opponent's attacks. When this monster is summoned, you opponent takes direct damage equal to the amount of damage you took the turn this card was summoned to the field.

**Dark Heretic Zor**

5 Stars/DARK/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK 0/DEF 0

You can special summon this monster to the field when you have 3 or more Glyph monsters in your graveyard. While this monster is face up on your side of the field, only this monster may declare an attack during the battle phase. If this monster would be destroyed in battle, you may sacrifice a Glyph monster you control and destroy it instead. This monster gains 700 ATK and DEF for every Glyph monster on your side of the field.


	5. Chapter 5: Road to Tomorrow

Chapter 5: Road to Tomorrow

Akira stands tall as he inspects his body in awe. He couldn't see it, but he knew that he'd undergone some kind of transformation and power was racing through every cell of his body. Finally remembering that he was in the middle of a duel, Akira looks down at his duel disk and his deck. His cards were glowing. On top of that, the more he focused on a single card, the more the cards themselves seemed to call out to him.

_-Draw your attention forward Akira.-_

The familiar voice brings Akira's focus back to Bring who was looking at him expectantly.

"Your turn…"

Akira didn't like Bring when he first approached him and he didn't like him even now. But for some reason, he couldn't help but smile at the situation now. The white dragon which spoke to him in his head didn't say it exactly, but he felt now that he could do anything with his deck. Bring was just an unfortunate stepping stone now.

Akira takes a good look at the top card of his deck.

_-I will awaken your inner most powers, the rest is simply up to you young one.-_

Akira chuckles at the words, "I feel lighter."

Akira: 1900

Bring: 2500

Akira draws his card and begins his turn. A surge of energy flows though his arm as an imaginary switch clicks against the back of his brain. The strange knocking feeling causes Akira to look at the card he drew in confusion.

"This is….a card I made?"

In his hand was a card he'd thought up a long time ago while he was a kid. It had a different title, but the image and the name were still the same.

"Hey! I'm growing impatient here! Just how long are you gonna take!?" Bring taps his foot angrily.

"Don't worry, things are gonna be different from here on Bring. I think you'll get a real kick out of this next move. I summon my Twilight Warrior Ehr (ATK 1500) in attack mode."

Just as soon as Akira is able to place his monster on the duel disk, the playing field is consumed in a blinding white light as a young warrior jumps onto the field. Wearing white leg armor, with a single gauntlet, and a heavy sword, the boy stands proudly before his master.

"Twilight Warrior…?" Bring raises his brow.

"Now, I attack your Glyph Ruby with my Rockstone Warrior!"

Bring's expression tenses as Akira's warrior fires off stones towards his Dark Heretic. Without any reaction from the spellcaster, the large red stone intercepts the attack and is destroyed in the process. Bring grits his teeth but then forces a confident smile.

"Thanks to my Ruby's special ability, I take no battle damage."

Akira: 1900

Bring: 2500

"Well it doesn't matter because I still have my Twilight Warrior. And he was made especially for situations like this." Akira smiles and points to his warrior. "You see when my warrior attacks one of your monsters in defense position, the difference between there attack and defense is dealt as battle damage. And with zero defense…"

Akira's warrior lunges forth at blinding speeds and slashes away at Bring's Glyph Emerald. Without Bring's Ruby to protect it, his monster is dispatched of with ease. The gem shatters into tiny pieces which rush past Bring causing him to shield his face.

Akira: 1900

Bring: 1500

"And with your monsters destroyed, your Zor's attack and defense drops from 2100 to 700."

Bring lowers his arms and rubs the cut on his cheek. He stares down his opponent and nods to himself. He felt that Akira was a worthy duelist but he was still coming up short. Bring looks down at the cards in his hand and smiles. He had just the right cards to fill his field back up with Glyph monsters, raising his heretic's points up to 2800.

"Then if you're done, I'll begin my turn."

"Who said I was done?" Akira catches Bring as he reaches for his top card, "I still have two cards in my hand and I intend to use them. I play my two quick-play spells, Poison of the Old Man. This spell card gives me the option of either increasing my life points by 1200 or inflicting 800 points of direct damage to my opponent. And with two, that's…"

"1600 points…" Bring clenches his fist.

"Exactly. And that means game over."

Akira's spells activate as they appear on the field. An old man appears before Bring holding two vials of purple poison. The poison bubbles and releases toxic vapor which slowly surrounds Akira's opponent. In a desperate move, Bring raises his arm to cover his face with his sleeve.

Akira: 1900

Bring: 0

Akira watches silently as Bring runs off coughing up a fit. His impulse tells him to follow but he felt that his victory was enough for now.

His hair and eyes returned to normal as the sun began to rise behind him. Turning around, Akira could see the sun peeking over the city buildings, erasing the dark sky with its light. With his warriors fading behind him, Akira recalls the choice he made in his head.

***

_-The road to your right is one of salvation. It shall lead you down a path which will bring suffering to others, but protect those closest to you.-_

Akira simply placed his hands in his pockets and laughed to himself. "And the other?"

_-The other road shall take you down a road of destruction. It shall protect those around you, but will bring suffering to those closest to you.-_

"Then the answer is simple right?" Akira puts on a somewhat sad smile.

Silence falls again.

"I choose the middle road. The road that I'll create. One where I can protect those around me as well as those dear to me. I won't stop until I see the light of a new tomorrow."

***

Akira smiles as he holds his Twilight Warrior in the light sunlight.

"Guess its time for me to walk the walk."

_-Akira…-_

The young boy turns his head up to the voice of the dragon in his head. "Huh? What is it?"

_-Did you not have something you wished to do?-_

It didn't even take Akira a full second to realize what the voice was referring to. The sun was now coming up and the police sirens could no longer be heard in the backdrop. Akira jumps in shock and begins to dash in the direction in which he last heard the sirens.

***

Iori's eyes are greeted by the blinding glare of the lights above her. Raising her hand up to shield her eyes, she discovers a thin tube which connected her arm to a nearby machine. With a groan she comes to realize where she is and lifts her weary body up of the mattress.

"Morning, sleeping beauty."

Iori slowly turns to her left with the utmost annoyance plastered upon her face. Sitting in the hospital bed next to her was her opponent Tyson eating a small meal which must have been brought to him. With the spoon in his mouth, he smiles and waves at her almost innocently. In response, Iori simply turns the other cheek.

"Hey, come on. Don't be like that." Tyson takes the spoon out of his mouth and begins to open up a pudding pack he'd been saving for last. "Look, its not my fault we got put in the same room. As a matter of fact it isn't really my fault we're in here in the first place."

Iori lets out a sarcastic "ha".

"I would've asked for separate rooms, but I wasn't really in the position to and I guess they assumed we were together."

Iori doesn't respond and turns her body even more. Tyson looks down in his half-empty pudding cup with a disappointed expression.

"I saved your cards." Tyson says stirring his pudding, "There on the stand next to you…"

Iori snapped back in a panic. Almost jumping from under the bed sheets, she throws her body at the stand to her right. Not even taking in the fact that it was her deck, she snatches up the cards and begins to look through them with an unusually frantic expression.

Tyson looked on in silence until, after a few seconds; he turned away since he had nothing to say.

Slowing down her search, Iori lets out a sigh of relief as she runs her fingers across her treasured Cyber Tutu and Volcanic Slicer. She traced the worn edges with her index finger as tears fell from her eyes and painted the fading images.

"……Thank you………These are really important to me." Iori regains some of her composure but maintains some of her hostility.

Tyson just glances at her before falling back on the hospital bed. Placing his hands behind his head, Tyson imagines the back of a man as his trademark dragon protects his front.

"Hmmm." Tyson rolls over and shoots a toothy grin in Iori's direction. "I suppose that doesn't mean things have changed between us then huh?"

***

Bring sits with his back against an alley wall. To take out his anger, her picks up stone after stone to toss at a nearby garbage can. A figure dressed in a dark cloak steps out of the shadows causing Bring to laugh in annoyance.

"That deck you gave me stinks. If I have known it was so weak I would've used my own deck!"

Bring takes the Glyph deck out of his pocket and tosses the cards into the air. The cloaked person simply watched as the cards touched down in the murky puddles along the ground.

"Did the boy have it?" The figure kneels down and picks Dark Heretic Zor off the ground.

"I don't know what exactly you're looking for, but there was definitely something weird with that guy! He even used this card I've never heard off!"

"I see." The figure turns around and slinks back into the shadows. "Retrieve Ms. Tsumura. We will contact the two off you later with your next assignment."

Bring looks coldly into the shadows until the figure's presence can no longer be felt. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a single card, Volcanic Slicer. Afterwards, he didn't move. He simply sat there and continued to stare at his card.

***

"Awesome! Dude, I don't know how you did it but I'm glad you did." Tyson cheers with enthusiasm.

Akira holds his body up against the doorway to the hospital room as he breathes raggedly. Is expression is all but pleased as he pours killing intent into his glare. Naturally, Tyson only smiles and grins.

"Do you…….have any…….idea…of how long I've been running!?" Akira shouts with broken breath.

"Dude, I'm in a hospital bed. How would I know?"

"Jerk. You're gonna need it when I'm done with you…"

"Hey, chill man. It's not like you had to come." Tyson nods as he shrugs. "I mean you just met me yesterday and…" Tyson breaks mid-sentence as a new concept enters his mind. "Say…how'd you know I was here anyways?"

Akira finally enters the room and slumps that against the wall. He just realized that he hadn't told Tyson about the weird voice in his head or Bring. After learning he was a psychic and could make monsters come to life, few things could surprise Akira as being "odd". However, he was sure that telling everything he'd experience would label him as delusional at best. So he had to come up with a reasonable lie.

"The explosion downtown kept me from sleeping. A childhood friend of mine lives in the area and it was possible that they were out at the hour." That much was true anyway. "Naturally, I went to check out the area and when I got there the police said a kid with blue hair and a baseball cap had to be rushed to the hospital."

Akira takes a deep breath and looks up at the teen before him.

"That's a pretty good lie to come up with on the spot dude. But if you'd really gotten your info from security then they would've said a boy _and a girl_."

Akira jumps up as he finally notices the black haired girl in the bed next to Tyson's. She appeared to be ignoring the two's conversation though.

"Oh man! It might've been bad luck or something to meet you buddy." Tyson states in a sarcastic tone as he scratches the back of his head.

Akira laughs nervously as sweat starts to form on his forehead. Tyson was a bit sharper than he expected.

"Don't worry about it man." Tyson dismisses the previous conversation with a sigh. "You can tell me later but right now…" Tyson turns to Akira and shoots him a devilish grin. "You have company. I asked her to hang around in case you dropped by."

Akira blinks in confusion as he lifts his body of the wall. The concept of someone visiting him in someone else's hospital room didn't exactly sink into his head. Slowly he looked over his shoulder.

"UHWAH!"

Standing in the doorway was none other than Aki Izayoi, staring directly into Akira's eyes.

Sensation quickly turned into heat as Akira's face turned a bright red as he struggled to find any words to say.

"You…" Aki's gentle voice rings like a bell in the silent room.

Akira is forced back to his senses as a hostile vibe suddenly shoots up his spine. Almost instantly, the girl's face turns cold and almost hostile as she continues to look into the boy's eyes. Stepping back, Akira examines the further an realizes that the girl's arm was glowing red for some reason.

"Okay, this is getting to be too much for one day…"

As Akira begins to retreat even further, his arm sends a strange signal to his brain. Grabbing his arm, Akira looks down as is surprised to see it pulsating.

_The Crimson Dragon…_

Responding to the dragon speaking to him, Akira looks back up at Aki unsure of what he should be feeling.

"You… Tell me who you are." Aki stares Akira down with determined eyes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Featured Cards:**

**Twilight Warrior- Ehr**

3 Star/DARK/Warrior/Effect/ATK 1500/DEF 800

During battle between this attacking card and a defense position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.


	6. Chapter 6: Scattered Thoughts

Chapter 6: Scattered Thoughts

"Dude, you're _seriously_ starting to mess up my life…"

The air in the room becomes thick with tension as the two duelists, Akira and Aki, stare each other down. As Aki's mark begins to shine brighter by the second, Akira's arm brings him more and more pain. Nearly clawing at the skin, Akira tries to ease the pain.

"Answer me! Why does your presence make my mark hurt so much!?" Aki holds her arm for Akira to see.

"If I knew I'd tell you."

Aki clenches her teeth and steps forward, grabbing Akira by his shirt collar. Oddly enough, at that very moment Aki's arm returned to normal, which in turn, caused Akira's pain to stop as well.

"What's going on?" Aki lessens her grip on Akira. "It stopped just like that…? But why?"

Aki stares into the boy's eyes. He was calm and collected, showing no sign of hostility of nervousness. While maintaining her loose grip, Aki glances down at the boy's arm. He didn't posses a mark like hers and he wasn't giving off dark energy like the Dark Signers from before. However, the fact of the matter was that he was still suspicious.

Still giving Akira a hostile glare, Aki releases him and takes a few steps back.

"You," Aki alters her gaze slightly and sets her sights on Tyson. "Is this the reason you asked me to stay?"

Tyson stammers in a sudden case of stupidity. "Y-yeah! This is my friend Akira and…well…he kinda said he wanted to meet you. Well…I guess he's more of an acquaintance…"

"Tyson…"

The room falls silent for a moment more as Aki returns her attention to Akira.

"Is this true? Did you really wish to meet with me?" Aki asks directly.

"Yeah…I did say that…"

"And what exactly do you want with me? I don't believe we've met before."

Akira doesn't respond. He holds his tongue and falls into a deep silence upon hearing Aki's words. The girl however, impatient with the situation, steps forward and takes a slightly more aggressive approach.

"Duel me."

Akira nearly jumps at the words.

"What!?"

"I assume you're a duelist, right? If you won't answer my questions then I'll force them out of you in a duel. You don't mind do you?"

"But…" Akira hesitates.

"Are you going to refuse?"

Akira looks into the girl's eyes and sees her determination. A faint feeling of sadness crawls up his spine as he gives his answer.

"Fine, I'll duel you Aki…"

Aki's eyes widen as the boy says her name. Before she could react and ask how Akira knew her name, he had already made his way to the doorway.

"Meet me outside."

Akira leaves the room and disappears from everyone's vision. Aki soon follows but briefly turns to look back at Tyson before leaving as well.

"Hey come on! Just what the heck is going on here!?"

Tyson starts to jump out of his assigned hospital bed as two nurses just so happen to stroll in. Seeing him out of his bed, they immediately rush to calm him and call for assistance.

"Quit it! I wanna see the damn duel!"

Tyson continues to struggle with the hospital staff as Iori remains silent in her bed. She gazes out the window aimlessly as a sinister smile creeps across her face.

"I see. So that girl's one of the five signers. This may turn out better than we originally planned."

***

"Duel!" Aki and Akira declare the beginning of their match.

Akira: 4000

Aki: 4000

"My turn; I'll start by summoning my Violet Witch (ATK 1100) in attack mode." An elf-like spellcaster emerges in a veil of leaves wielding her staff for battle. "I place two cards face-down and end my turn."

Akira simply stares at Aki instead of proceeding with his turn. Aki notices quickly and returns the stare.

"I wasn't able to ask back then, but now I'd like to know. Back then you called me by my name. But I don't recall ever telling you it."

Akira puts on a faint smile. "So that's how it is huh? Guess I was hoping for a little much." Akira whispers to himself before speaking up. "You're terrible. We've met before. Although I suppose it has been some time."

Aki is once again caught off guard by Akira's response.

"My turn," Akira draws and places a new card in his hand. Just like before, he had drawn a one-of-a-kind card. "I summon Twilight Warrior Alia (ATK 1200) in attack mode!" Akira summons a young spellcaster to the field. She was dressed in white and black spellcaster attire with long black hair and a small staff. Once on the field the young magician looks around curiously and finally lays her eyes on Akira. With a wink, she shows her confidence in him.

"Now Alia, attack her Violet Witch; Twilight Magic Attack!"

The magician gives Akira a small nod of the head before she flies up into the air. She positions herself in front of the sun and aims the end of her staff at Aki's monster. Light and shadow converge and spiral into one large blast as its fired directly upon Aki's monster.

"Not so fast! I activate my trap card, Rose Blizzard." Aki's trap flips up on the field. "You see, when a monster my opponent controls attacks one of my monsters, I get to negate the attack. In addition, your monster is switched into defense position."

Aki's trap activates and unleashes its effect on Alia.

"Sorry. But my Alia is immune to spells and traps that specifically designate her as a target."

The spellcaster holds up her hand and creates a barrier which withstands and absorbs Aki's trap. The magician then continues with her attack; firing off another magic blast to destroy Aki's monster.

Akira: 4000

Aki: 3900

"Impressive…" Aki says calmly, "That's quite the monster."

"You think so? Then you'll love this. In addition to being immune to your spell and traps, when you do activate one that targets her, I get to destroy it and inflict 300 points of direct damage to your life points."

Aki is shocked as Akira's spellcaster appears in front of her. She playfully sticks out her tongue and fires bolts of black lightning at Aki. Aki naturally guards herself.

Akira: 4000

Aki: 3600

"I place two face-downs and end my turn."

Akira looks up somewhat reluctantly at his opponent. Though she was obviously somewhat flustered, her resolve had yet to be damaged.

"Tell me Aki, do you remember when we first met? Do you remember your time at the Duel Academy a few years back?"

Aki opens her mouth to speak but no words come out. The dark memories of her time at Duel Academy flood into her mind. The cries of the people she hurt, the curses they put on her very soul; they were all things she didn't care to remember anymore. This boy, Akira, was becoming more mysterious and more threatening by the second.

"My turn," Aki ignores Akira's questions and draws a card. "I summon my Twilight Rose Knight (ATK 1000) in attack mode." A small warrior clad in dark armor emerges on Aki's field. "When my knight is normal summoned to the field, I'm allowed to special summon one level 4 or lower monster from my hand. So I'm summoning Lord Poison (ATK 1500)!"

A ghoulish plant monster appears on the field and floats next to Aki's knight.

"Now Lord Poison, attack his Twilight Warrior!"

"I activate my trap, Twilight Shield!"

Akira's trap card activates and creates a housing dome of light around Alia just as her opponent's attack was about to connect.

"You see Aki, I can only activate this when you attack one of my Twilight Warriors. Not only does this nifty card negate your attack, but it also lowers your monster's attack by an amount equal to the amount of life points I would've lost. That makes your monster's attack points drop to 1200."

Aki clenches her teeth. Not only was his monster troublesome, but it was well defended as well.

"Fine. I'll place one face-down card and end my turn."

Akira didn't want to continue with the duel. He saw no point to it. Slowly, he draws his next card and thinks carefully.

"You know we dueled like this before. Although, last time I didn't even stand a chance…"

Aki doesn't respond but listens intently.

"I'm sure now that you don't remember…" Akira rearranges the cards in his hand as he thinks. "But you saved my life that day."

With those words, the tension in Aki's heart begins to melt away. She relaxes as Akira looks up at her and their eyes meet. Akira recalls the road that he turned his back on; the road which he once thought was the beginning but was actually the end. He recalls Aki's desperate cries for help in his mind while he could only watch her suffer.

"And now it's my turn to protect you."

Akira looks at the top card of his deck with great intent. He had the advantage right now but if there was one thing he knew from duels, nothing's decided until the last card is played.

"My turn, draw." Akira draws his card and plays it without even looking. He didn't have to. "I summon Twilight Warrior Ehr (ATK 1500) in attack mode." The teenage knight appears on Akira's field. Alia happily greets him.

"I don't want to duel you Aki. And I'm pretty sure you don't want to either. So…"

"No."

Akira looks up to find Aki staring at him.

"I don't know why…" A vision of a hot, sunny day flashes in Aki's mind. A young boy looks up at her in a daze. What was odd was that even though he was injured, he looked up at her with a light smile. The vision ended there. "I feel like I need to finish this duel." The rose duelist looks Akira in his eyes. "So please, continue with this duel."

Akira sighs and takes another card from his hand. "Fine. I play the spell card Call to the Twilight!" Akira's card activates on his field. "While I have at least 1 Twilight Warrior on my field, I can draw one card from my deck and add it to my hand. And if I draw one LIGHT or DARK attribute monster, I get to special summon it to my field."

Akira places his hand on his top card as his eyes glow blue with the power of the White Dragon.

"I draw!" Akira looks at his card and smiles. "And I special summon my Twilight Fairy (DEF 600) in defense mode."

Aki glares intently at the unfamiliar monster.

"And now I tune my Twilight Warriors with my Twilight Fairy."

Akira's fairy monster flies towards the sky and turns in a green ring. Soon after, Ehr and Alia follow and fly back-to-back through the ring.

"Light and darkness converge, forming a road to the dawn! Emerge in light! Come forth T…"

Just as Akira's monster is about to be summoned, the wall of the hospital building explodes.

"What was that!?"

The duel holograms are replaced with searing heat and smoke. The first floor of the hospital was now on fire and the flames were quickly spreading to the upper levels.

"Akira, we have to help them!" Aki calls Akira out of his confusion.

"Right." The two nod to each other and begin running for the front lobby.

Suddenly, the sound of an engine revving up fills the air. The two duelist stop as an orange duel runner tears through a nearby hospital wall. Time slows to a crawl as Akira's eyes meet with the rider; Bring.

"Him again!"

The duel runner brakes after passing Akira and Aki. Bring grins victoriously at the twilight duelist. Looking for answers as to why he was here, Akira notices the girl clinging to his sides. It was the same girl who was resting in the room with Tyson.

"Bring! What's the big deal!? And what have you done with Tyson!?"

"I'm just insuring our escape." The boy replies coolly. "And by the way, my real name's Jason Hounds. I hate being called by that slave name."

____________________________________________________________________________________

**Featured Cards:**

**Twilight Warrior- Alia**

2 Star/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK 1200/DEF 500

This monster is unaffected by traps and magic cards that specifically designate it as a target. If your opponent activates a spell or trap that targets this card, destroy it and inflict 300 points of direct damage to your opponent.

**Twilight Shield**

Trap Card

Activate only when your opponent declares an attack on a Twilight Warrior on your side of the field. Negate the attack and lower the attacking monster's ATK by the same amount of life points you would've lost until the end of the battle phase.

**Call to the Twilight**

Spell Card

While you have a Twilight Warrior monster card on your side of the field, you can draw one card from your deck and add it to your hand. If you draw a LIGHT or DARK attribute monster you may special summon it to the field.

**Twilight Fairy**

1 Star/LIGHT/Fairy/Tuner/ATK 0/DEF 600

When this monster is successfully summoned to your side of the field, gain 400 lifepoints.


	7. Chapter 7: Power

Chapter 7: Power

Jason grins at the two duelists as the flames begin to roar louder and louder. He moves his index finger and middle finger up near his temple and chuckles in a mocking solute.

"Well its been a blast, but I'm afraid we've gotta get going now. Catch ya later."

Akira clenches his fist and takes a step forward but Aki quickly reaches out and stops him. Jason smiles as he revs his Duel Runner and speeds off with his comrade. As the two vanish from sight, Akira swears under his breath.

"Akira…" Aki's voice calls out to him.

He knew why she stopped him. Although he wanted desperately to chase after Jason, he knew that the hospital was his top priority now. So he takes a deep breath and turns, running past Aki without even responding to her.

"Hey wait! What are you doing!?"

"Just stay right there!" Akira responds as quickly as Aki could finish, "I know exactly what I'm doing. So just stay right there."

With those words, Akira runs through the collapsed wall and disappears inside of the burning building.

Aki could only stand in confusion at the boys sudden actions. Slowly, anger started to overcome her due to the feeling of being underestimated. Ignoring the boy's words, Aki begins to step forward. Her advance is soon halted by the recurring image of that sunny day and the boy lying covered in bruises under her. It caused her heart to tremble; he made her heart tremble.

"_I'm sure now that you don't remember…but you saved my life that day."_

"_And now it's my turn to protect you."_

Aki's previous anger dissipates and she soon finds herself worrying for the strange boy.

"I guess there's something I can still do." Reaching into her pocket, Aki pulls out her cellphone and begins dialing a number.

***

Jason and Iori find themselves on the highway. They seem to have taken a route that no one else was traveling along so their getaway was pretty much assured.

"Hey Bring," Iori moves her blowing hair behind her ear and out of her face, "Don't you think that stunt was a little unnecessary? I don't see why you had to see the entire first floor on fire just to cause a distraction. What will you do if those people get hurt?"

The boy laughs.

"Don't you go worrying about a thing. Trust me, that guy has some serious tricks up his sleeve. Those people will be just fine."

Iori glares at her partner with extreme tension. Sensing this, Jason looks slightly over his shoulder and meets her stare.

"Is the power of the White Dragon that great? Can it really make that much of a difference?"

The blonde frowns causing Iori to rear back slightly out of shock. Jason returns his attention to the road and focuses solely on the rushing wind. His world gradually becomes one that only a turbo duelist would know; the world of speed.

"There's no doubt that the influence of the White Dragon is great. However…" Adrenaline begins to rush through the boy's body. His emotions become clearer to him and everything else simply seemed to slow to a crawl. "That boy… is no weakling himself."

Iori couldn't respond. She didn't know how to respond. Granted she'd known Bring for years, she still couldn't tell what he was thinking half of the time. He was an enigma. At times he was like a raging inferno and at other times he was like a frozen tundra. But that's why she liked him.

"Oh stop it. You'll make me jealous if you keep talking about him so highly." Iori finally says playfully.

Bring's expression didn't change though. Iori frowns as she looks at the boy's strong image. She leans a little to try and get a look at his face. He was calm. His eyes were filled with a newfound determination unknown to her.

"Bring…"

"It would be nice." The boy gives a somewhat uneasy smile, "It would be nice to duel him in this world of speed. I want to know what he thinks about what I'm doing."

Iori's mouth opens. Her mind told her to say something before there was ever anything to say. She averts her gaze away from Bring's image and simply wraps both of her arms around him. She was sad.

"Is that why you told him your name?"

A silence follows.

"Who knows…"

"FREEZE! HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

The two glace back to find a squadron of security officers pursuing them. At the head was Officer Ushio who was closing in on the two duelists.

"You there! You're under arrest for endangering the people of this city! Surrender now and maybe we'll take it easy on you!"

"Hmph" Iori shoots an "I-told-you-so" glare.

Bring simply stares at the incoming officer and gives an uninterested grin. He looks at his deck and revs up his bike as he shoots Ushio the bird and begins to accelerate.

"I'm in a bit of a hurry. So sorry, but I've gotta make this quick."

Bring presses a few buttons on the control panel of his duel runner. The display shows the Speed World 2 spell card and gives a quick message engaging the auto-pilot. The system on Ushio's duel runner began to do the same. The system was somehow overrode and began to initiate Duel Mode.

"I see. You're no ordinary duelist. Fine! I accept your challenge! The rest of you back off. Leave this guy to me."

The rest of the patrol officers decelerated and left Ushio with the two mysterious duelists. Numerous black panels rose on each side of the highway lane while at the same time an announcement was made that a turbo duel was about to start. Everyday citizens quickly changed lanes as the duel lane was selected and formed. A long stretching highway rose from the ocean and connected with the existing highway to complete the process.

A doorway opens up allowing them a private road on which to do their duel.

"Duel!" The two say in unison.

Bring: LP-4000 SP-3

Ushio: LP-4000 SP-3

"I'll go first!" Ushio draws his first card and begins the duel, "And I'll start by summoning my Hellway Patrol (ATK 1600). I then place 2 face-downs and end my turn."

Bring: LP-4000 SP-4

Ushio: LP-4000 SP-4

"Hurry and wrap this up Bring. We're already behind schedule." Iori states in an annoyed manner.

"Don't worry", Bring draws his card, "My deck isn't as weak as that old man's. This'll be done in no time." The blonde duelist takes a card from his hand. "I summon my Fire Trooper (ATK 1000) in attack mode." The flame-headed monster appears on Bring's right and flies through the air. "Next I activate its special ability. By sending this monster to the graveyard when it's summoned, my opponent takes 1000 points of direct damage."

The monster's body disappears from its feet up and leaves only its flaming head. The head then launches through the air, past Ushio's monster, and crashes down on the street before the officer. The resulting shockwave caused Ushio to lose some balance.

Bring: LP-4000 SP-4

Ushio: LP-3000 SP-4

"Next, by removing my Fire Trooper from play, I can special summon another monster from my hand through its special effect. Come forth, Inferno (ATK 1100)!" A giant blaze erupts behind Bring giving form to his new fire monster. "Then I activate the Speed Spell-Summon Speeder which allows me to special summon my Little Chimera (DEF 550) from my hand." A glowing portal appears on Bring's left and a winged, wolf-like creature leaps through. "And thanks to this little guy's ability, all FIRE monsters gain 500 ATK. I place one face-down and that's all for now."

Bring: LP-4000 SP-5

Ushio: LP-3000 SP-5

"Next turn, you're done." Bring declares with a sinister smirk.

***

"Come on, this way! Hurry!"

Akira directs a group of hospital staff tending to wounded patients out of the burning building. They are able to make their way through the flames and escape through an emergency exit. Once the last person is safely through the door, Akira turns back and pulls his coat collar over is nose and mouth.

"Almost there…."

Akira struggles to make his way back through the flames and up to the upper levels. He'd cleared about three levels and an additional two where cleared thanks to the nurses and staff. If his memory served him served him right, there was only one more floor to go.

"Hey. You there Dragon?" Akira makes his way through the flames as his vision begins to blur.

"_You've gotten yourself into quite a predicament, Akira"_

"Tell me something I don't know." Akira kicks down the door to the staircase and uses it to run through the flames before it is consumed in flames as well. "Care to create a miracle for me buddy?"

"_I'm sorry, but I am not able to fully project my power on your world as of yet. All I can do is amplify your power."_

"Damn", Akira laughs to himself, "Of all the things you could've said."

Akira arrives on the top floor and looks around as he runs down the hall. All of the rooms were either empty or the people inside were unfortunately dead. Seeing such a horrible scene repeated over and over made Akira curse himself for not being able to save everyone. He pauses, ignoring the searing heat and lack of oxygen, to clench his fist and asks himself if saving anyone meant anything if he couldn't save everyone.

"_Akira. Look ahead."_

Hearing the dragon's voice, Akira looks ahead to the end of the hallway. There was one last room that he hadn't checked and it seemed that the door was closed to stop the flames; Tyson's room. His resolve revived, Akira runs over and through flames; shielding his face so that the smoke and embers would get in his way. He arrives at the door and grabs the handle. It was way beyond hot, but Akira figured it wasn't the time to worry about such things. He opens the door, rushes in, and slams the door behind him.

"Yo. You sure took long enough." A less than energetic voice calls out to Akira as he enters.

Akira looks around. The room wasn't on fire but the heat from the fire outside could still be more than felt. There was some charring near the door where fire must've gotten in but they were obviously put out with the now burnt blankets and pillows. The window was busted through presumably to allow for a better circulation of air. Underneath it was none other than Tyson, leaning against the wall with his hands behind his head.

"Tyson? What the hell are you doing just sitting here!?"

"Well let's see. I was weighing my sins and thinking about jumping out this window." Tyson looks up at the ceiling, "Thinking of all the good times I've had, things I'll never do, karma.."

He was hysterical. It made sense now.

Akira sighs and looks over his shoulder at the flames in the hallway. He then looks down at his burned hand and flexes it as he contemplates his next move.

"Hey Dragon, you said you can amplify my powers right?"

Tyson looks up at Akira wondering who he was talking to.

"_At my current level I should be able to. However, I can only do so momentarily."_

"That's all I need." Akira rolls up his sleeves and turns his back to a confused Tyson. He holds his arms out in front of him as his eyes turn blue to signify the white dragon's power flowing through him. "Tyson, what you're about to see is top secret okay. You can't tell anyone about what I'm about to do."

Tyson's jaw drops down in a dumb expression but he eventually musters up the sense to nod.

"Good." Akira's hair becomes spikier as a blue aura begins to surround him.

***

"Why the hell isn't the fire department here yet!?" A security officer questions out loud.

A crowd of people have gathered outside the hospital and watch in suspense as the flames continue to spread and intensify. Those who'd managed to escape the flames were being tended to by on-the-scene medics with the aid of security officers.

Amongst the crowd of spectators were Aki and Yusei who'd just arrived.

"I'm going in." Aki states in a determined voice. She steps forward, nearly breaking out into a sprint, only to be grabbed by her forearm and stopped by Yusei. She tries to fight him but gives up just as easily when she looks over her shoulder and sees him shaking his head.

"Oh my god!" Someone cries out in the crowd.

Everyone turns to face the building to find a window on the top floor giving off an unusually bright light. Second's later, the light grows at an incredible rate and consumes the entire hospital building. Blue light shines from every window, every room, and purges out all flames with its intense light.

"What's going on!?" Yusei says as he shields his eyes.

***

The light dies just as soon as it appeared. If Tyson weren't there to see it with his own two eyes, he wouldn't have even believed it himself. The door had been blown open and all the flames in the hallway were gone without a trace. Tyson stands up and approaches the person in the center of the room. Akira, the same person who'd just invoked some strange power, was now lying unconscious in the center of the room.

"You're seriously screwin with my life here man."

Tyson kneels down next to Akira and turns him on his back so he can breathe. Then Tyson noticed it, something that wasn't there before. A shining blue infinity mark on Akira's forehead faded away and was soon replaced by a glowing mark on Akira's right arm.

"Just what the heck are you man?"

***

The display on Ushio's duel runner displays a large red x. His vehicle had long since crashed into the side of the duel lane and was totaled beyond repair therefore. Ushio himself was laid out in the middle of the road unconscious.

Bring and his partner were stopped. They were currently looking up at the sky in the direction of the hospital. With a shrug, Bring revs up his duel runner and the two take off once again.

"It looks like I was right about that guy…"


	8. Chapter 8: Trouble! Attack the Signers!

Chapter 8: Trouble! Attack the Signers!

A line of light runs across the dark world and begins to break away the darkness. With his eyes fully open, Akira finds himself looking at an unfamiliar ceiling in an unfamiliar room. It was fairly plain, probably used for guest, with nothing but a television, a bed, and a night stand decorating the room.

He lifts his heavy body up to find himself in someone's bed. Throwing the sheets back and bringing his hand up to his face, memories from earlier rush into his head. He could recall finding Tyson among the blaze and shortly after…

"You know, you're pretty heavy." A voice interrupts Akira's train of thought.

Snapping to attention, Akira jumps up and finds Tyson standing up against the doorway.

"You black-out after your little stunt." Tyson walks into the room and sits on the floor across from the bed. "The doctors and stuff wanted to take a look at you and everything but I managed to bring you here instead. I figured that would be best anyways." Tyson ends with a sigh and a shrug.

Akira recalls how he used his psychic powers to their fullest and remains silent.

"Jeez, I guess I don't really have anything to do now. The tournament's been postponed until further notice; thanks to all the recent accidents in the city and all." Tyson rambles on to break the silence. "Sorry I couldn't drag you to your pad man. I was sure you'd understand. It's not like I know where you're crashing ya know."

Akira only stares at Tyson with little interest. It was as if he was asking how long Tyson could keep this up. Just the same, Tyson briefly returns the stare before throwing his hands behind his head and continuing with the one-sided conversation.

"This is kinda different though," Tyson starts to tap his foot against the TV stand, "For someone I've just met, I sure am seeing a lot of you. Maybe this is what some people would call fate or something right?" Tyson takes his deck from his coat pocket and begins to look through it card by card. "It's almost like a game huh?"

Akira was finally fed up with Tyson's talk, "What exactly are you getting at?"

Tyson shoots Akira a cold glare causing him to tense up instantly.

"I've almost been killed twice in the time that I've known you Akira. What I wanna know is just who or what the hell you are."

***

"Another Signer…?" Yusei restates the phrase within utter confusion.

Aki nods her head to Yusei to confirm that what she said was correct.

After, the fire at the hospital was declared as being resolved, Aki insisted on remaining at the scene for a little while longer to see if Akira was alright. In the end however, the mysterious boy did not return to her and she would have assumed the worst if not for the fact that neither his body nor his friend's turned up amongst the dead. With nothing else to do, the two left the scene and eventually ended up at Yusei's garage where they began a discussion on the events of the day.

"Hey now, I may still be new to this whole thing but that just doesn't sit right with me." Crow leans back in his chair and lifts an eyebrow to think over the suggestion. "Hey Yusei, is that even possible? I'm pretty sure that there are only supposed to be five Signers in all."

"You idiot, of course there are only five Signers!" Jack declares before Yusei can answer, "Look, if this Akira kid really does have a mark, then it's obviously a fake!"

Aki narrows her eyes and clenches her fist at the remark; even though she doesn't fully understand why herself.

"Jack, calm down. Even if that's true we can't ignore the fact that he made Aki's mark react." Yusei thinks through the information logically. "What's more is that ever since we've started sensing what feels like another mark more and more incidents have started to occur inside the city. This could very well have something to do with that guy."

Jack growls under his breath and turns the other cheek as Crow begins to grumble and scratch his head. Aki on the other hand could only smile slightly to know that she could always count on Yusei to handle a situation like this. That's probably why she admired him so much.

"OH!" Aki yells out making everyone jump out of their seats.

"Aki! What is it!? What's wrong!?" Yusei asks

"Oh, it's just that, I almost forgot about something else."

Crow takes a big sigh as the other two relax and listen for what Aki has to say.

"When the hospital was set on fire, there were these two people riding this orange duel runner. I'm not entirely sure, but I faintly recall seeing the girl in the same room Akira's friend was in. On top of that, Akira seemed to know the guy from somewhere. I think he called him Bring…" Aki brings her hand up to her chin and tries to recall what the two looked like.

"My my, it would seem that that hothead can't do anything right."

Everyone turns their attention upwards towards the entrance. There, sitting down on the steps, was a girl peering down at them with devilish eyes. She was in her late teens, dressed in a white shirt, blue jacket, and blue skirt. Her long black hair flowed down her back and spread across the floor that she sat on.

"And just who are you!? Don't you know it's impolite to eavesdrop!?" Jack yells out.

The girl doesn't give a response. She only smiles as she lifts her hand and reaches into her shirt to pull out what appeared to be a stone tied around her neck. Yusei instantly recognized the stone as the girl he carried to the hospital the day before had one just like it.

"Are you responsible for all the damage that's been happening in this city!?" Yusei demands an answer from the girl.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to force that information out of me in a duel." The girl states as she lifts the stone up to her lips and kisses it. The stone begins to glow a faint green. The room is then quickly engulfed in a violent green light causing everyone to shield their eyes.

Once the light dies down, the group find themselves in what appeared to be outer space. There was no ground beneath them; the only thing beneath their feet was a type of glowing seal.

Naturally, Crow panics and decides to hold his breath but soon finds that doing so isn't necessary.

"What is this?" Yusei glares at the girl standing a couple of feet away.

"Our playing field." The girl gives a cryptic answer and holds out her arm. Green light begins to spiral around it until it disperses leaving a duel disk behind.

The same soon happens to Yusei, as the same light that transported him there suddenly forms his duel disk with his deck already set for battle. Figuring there was no backing down, Yusei stares at his opponent and decides to accept her challenge.

"Duel!"

Yusei: 4000

Kairi: 4000

"My turn! Draw!" Yusei takes the first turn and draws the top card off of his deck. "And I'll start by playing my Shield Warrior (DEF 1600) in defense mode!" Yusei's defender appears on his side of the field. "Nest I'll place one face-down and then I'll activate the spell card Double Summon. With this, I'm allowed one more normal summon this turn. So now I think I'll summon my Zero Gardna (DEF 0) to the field." A little machine like monster carrying a giant zero appears on Yusei's side of the field. "That's it for now."

"Wha? Why's Yusei going straight defense on the first turn?" Crow asked stupidly.

"Defense or offense, it won't matter in the end." The mysterious girl states plainly as she draws her card and begins her turn. "From my hand, I play the spell card Terraforming." Kairi's spell card appears on the field. "This handy little card allows me to take one field spell card from my deck and add it to my hand." Kairi's duel disk shuffles her deck and stops allowing her to draw the top card off of her deck. "And now I think I'll play the field spell I just drew. I activate the field spell card; A Legendary Ocean!"

As Kairi's Terraforming card begins to vanish, a whirlpool began to form on her side of the field. The whirlpool would soon erupt and flood the entire field. Yusei and the others braced themselves as the wave washed over them to submerge the area. When everything was done, the duelists all found themselves at the bottom of the ocean in what appeared to be a sunken city.

"Much better." The girl's voice echoed through the water. "Now that A Legendary Ocean is activated, all water monsters in my hand and on my field are downgraded 1 level; making it easier for me to summon them. So now I summon my Terrorking Salmon (ATK 2400) in attack mode."

The giant fish appears on the field, causing Yusei to grind his teeth at the beast's attack strength.

"And that's not all, because of my field spell card, my Terrorking Salmon gains an extra 200 attack and defense points. That raises his strength to 2600."

Aki and the others look on in suspense. The fact that this girl was able to summon such a powerful monster on the first turn could only spell trouble for Yusei.

"Now attack, Terrorking Salmon! Destroy his Zero Gardna!" Kairi commands her monster into battle.

"I don't think so! I activate my trap card, Scrap Iron Scarecrow!"

Kairi's monster swims with incredible speed to destroy Zero Gardna only to be intercepted by Yusei's trap.

"Hmph" Kairi turns her chin up at her opponent.

Unable to fulfill its attack, her monster returns to her side of the field and Yusei's trap is reset on his field.

"That was close." Aki takes a sigh of relief on the sidelines.

"Perhaps…" Jack cuts Aki's relief short, "But if that girl's deck is anything like what I think it is, Yusei better hurry up and wrap this duel up quick."

Aki hears Jack's words well and understands completely what he means. She redirects her attention two the two duelists before her. Nothing made sense. She'd already figured that this girl had something to do with the two from the hospital. But what she didn't understand was what these people wanted with them. Even more so, she wanted to know what they wanted to do with Akira.

***

So that's how it is huh?" Tyson leans up against the wall as he reflects on all the information he'd just received.

It wasn't anything really elaborate. Akira simply told Tyson everything from square one. He started with the weird dreams he had of Aki and the dragon up to the point where he saved Tyson from the burning hospital. Of course he had to explain to Tyson that he had psychic abilities; however, that was about all he said on that subject for his own personal reasons.

"Anyways, I appreciate what you did Tyson but now I've got to get home. If Bring had my deck then he must have been able to get into my house somehow. I need to check and see if I can figure out what they were doing there."

Tyson grumbles as he is still unable to comprehend the whole situation.

Akira gets up out of the guest bed only to be paralyzed by a sharp pain surging throughout his body. Tyson hopes up able to see the pain on Akira's face and holds him up to see if anything was wrong.

"Dude, you okay?"

Akira manages to nod, as he now knew the source of the pain. His arm was pulsating like it did when he met Aki at the hospital. The pain was centered around an odd mark that had appeared on his arm at some point in time. It wasn't clear, but as the pain grew stronger, so did the image of the oddly shaped mark on his arm.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Despite Tyson's help, the pain was so great that it brought Akira to his knees in no time. He didn't know how he'd received the mark or even why, but now, within all the pain, it was screaming at him that someone was in trouble.

***

"I'll get it!" Ruka announces as she runs to the front door.

She steps lively and even finds herself skipping part of the way expecting someone like Yusei or Aki to meet her at the door.

She stops at the door and reaches out to grab the doorknob. She turns it and as she opens the door a feeling of dread and burning despair washes over her. Before her is someone who could only be described as overwhelming; a wild looking blonde with a scar across his nose. Ruka steps back away from the door as he enters and smiles at her with evil eyes.

"Hey kid. Wanna play?"


	9. Chapter 9: Disadvantage!

**Author's Note:** Wow…. That took a little bit longer than I expected. I really wanted to get this out a lot sooner but life didn't miss its chance to get in the way again. I kinda shortened it in terms of what I originally planned, but it's not by much and can easily be in the next chapter all the same. Thanks to those of you who have reviewed as well. They are always appreciated.

* * *

Chapter 9: Disadvantage! The Organization Moves!

"Dammit!" Akira slams his fist against the wall in a fit of anger. "Just what the hell is going on!?"

Akira continues to glare at the mysterious mark on his arm. Though the pain was more tolerable, the mark continued to resonate an alarming feeling throughout his entire being.

Tyson simply sat against the wall and continued to gaze blankly. The whole situation was outrageous, moving way too fast, and was overall just too complicated to understand. In the end, he simply quit caring to save himself the trouble. He half thought about though about throwing Akira out as well but he couldn't since he did save him.

"That mark still hurting?" Tyson asked with a slight lack of interest.

"It is, but its manageable now. It feels like it's trying to warn me or something."

"_You are mistaken Akira,"_ The White Dragon intrudes Akira's mind,_ "The road you have chosen has come to a crossroads; an intersection of destinies. That mark on your arm is a testament to that."_

"What's that supposed to mean?" Akira questions once again leaving Tyson irritably confused.

"_That mark on your arm was not created by my power nor yours. That mark was born of a unique power born from the Crimson Dragon. It is similar to that of one of the Crimson Dragon's Signers. However, I cannot deduce the nature nor the reason of your mark as the normal marking of my Dream Signers would be the infinity sign on your forehead."_

Akira touches his forehead subconsciously. The White Dragon's mark wasn't there now, but Akira was now well aware of the infinity sign of his head. Unlike the mark on his arm though, it would only show when he was in a pinch.

"Tell me then, should I be able to have both a mark from you and the Crimson Dragon?" Akira asks bluntly.

"_You should not. None the less, the mark of the Crimson Dragon is a direct link to the Crimson Dragon and the five Signers themselves. For it to manifest now with such intensity must mean that one of the Signers must be in grave danger."_

Then it hits him. Akira recalled the scene in the hospital where he'd met Aki and saw a similar mark on her arm. At that point in time, Akira heard the dragon in his head mutter "The Crimson Dragon". The words didn't make since before but now everything was becoming clear. It would explain why Aki was so hostile towards him and possibly why his arm didn't start hurting until he'd seen her.

"If that's the case…"

Aki was in danger and he had to find a way to save her.

"Thank you." Akira waves to Tyson as he begins to make his way out of the room and towards the front door.

"Huh? Where're you going buddy?"

Akira pauses.

"No time to explain. Besides, I've already involved you in this enough as it is."

Akira tries to head for the front door again only to be stopped once more. Tyson had approached him and pulled him back by his shoulder. Turning to look at him, Akira finds Tyson looking at him with a grin and a thumbs-up.

"At least let me pay you back for saving my life man."

Akira could only tilt his head in confusion.

***

"How pathetic. I was expecting more from you, Yusei Fudo. But now all I can say is that I'm disappointed with how weak you and your deck are." Kairi states coolly.

Yusei: 4000

Kairi: 4000

"It's far too early for you to be saying that. You've yet to do any damage to my life points and I'm just getting warmed up!" Yusei establishes his determination.

"Hmph. Do as you wish. I play two face-downs and end my turn." The long haired girl takes two cards from her hand and places them on her side of the field.

"Fine then, my turn! Draw!" Yusei draws a card from his deck and places it in his hand.

He was in a really tough spot. Right now, he had no way of defeating his opponent's monster with the cards he had. His only hope right now was to get out a Synchro Monster and fast. His two monsters would more than likely provide enough defense until he got what he needed. So for now, getting rid of The Legendary Ocean field spell was all he needed to do.

"I place one face-down. And then I activate the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your field spell!"

Yusei plays the card and it conjures up a strong whirlwind of magical energy strong enough to rip the field apart.

"Too bad. I activate my counter trap, Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell. You see, by discarding one spell card from my hand not only can I negate a spell card and destroy it, but you're also not allowed to use a spell card of the same name for the remainder of the duel."

Yusei grinds his teeth as the effects of his spell card are negate and destroyed leaving him back at square one.

"Turn end…"

"Yusei…" Aki looks on with increasing concern.

Crow and Jack continue to watch the battle as well; although, something keeps grabbing Crow's attention.

"Hey Jack."

"Hm? What is it Crow?"

"Doesn't something seem odd to you? I mean about this field. Doesn't it actually feel like we're underwater?" Crow questions with his attention fixed on the mysterious girl.

Jack stops for a moment and looks at his hand. He flexes it a few times slowly and comes to realize what Crow was getting at.

"What is this!? I can feel the water moving around my hand!"

"Wait!" Aki turns to face the two. "Could that mean that this duel is real!?"

Crow nods.

"That could be why Yusei went straight into defense." Crow's expression intensifies. "But still…that doesn't explain why Yusei's playing like this. I just hope he's got some sort of plan or else…"

Aki returns her attention to Yusei. Although his expression was as strong and solid as ever, she couldn't help but feel a slight sense of worry coming from him.

"I'll say it again, I'm disappointed Yusei." Kairi crosses her arms and shakes her head to further mock her opponent. "My turn. Draw!" Kairi returns to the duel at hand. "I'll start by summoning Abyss Soldier (ATK 1600) in attack mode." The humanoid whale-like creature appears on her side of the field wielding a trident. "Next I activate my soldier's special ability. By sending 1 water monster from my hand to the graveyard, I'm able to return one card on the field to its owner's hand. And I choose your Zero Gardna."

"What the!?" Yusei jumps in shock as his Zero Gardna is removed from the field and sent back to his hand. Without his Zero Gardna, his defense was cut in half.

"And now because my soldier gets an attack boost, I'll attack your Shield Warrior with my Abyss Soldier. Go!" Kairi declares her attack as her monster swims forward. It holds its trident above its head and throws it at the designated target as if it were a javelin

"Have you forgotten? I still have my Scrap-Iron Scarecrow on my field!" Yusei points to his trap card as it flips face-up to negate Kairi's attack once again.

"I was waiting for that." Kairi grins.

"What? Don't tell me…?"

"I activate my counter trap, Trap Jammer!"

Kairi's trap card flips up on the field and shines brightly. Soon after, it bursts into thousands of pieces and takes Yusei's card with it. With his Scrap-Iron Scarecrow gone, Yusei's Shield Warrior was defenseless against Abyss Soldier's attack. The trident crashes through the warrior's shield and easily destroys him.

"I'm sure you know what's next. Terrorking Salmon, attack his life points directly!"

The large fish cuts through the water with incredible speed and slams into Yusei before he can recover from the previous attack. Yusei is able to cross his arms in front of his body to protect himself, but the resulting force is still strong enough to knock him off his feet and onto his back.

Yusei: 1400

Kairi: 4000

"Yusei!!!" Aki, Jack, and Crow call out to their friend in unison.

Yusei struggles to get up off the ground while at the same time keeping his eyes on his opponent.

"This pain…the damage I took just now was real…"

"Very good. You stated the obvious. This duel is very real. I'm surprised you didn't figure that out sooner."

Yusei finally manages to get back on his feet; albeit, holding his left arm.

"I was sent here by my leader to duel and distract you." Kairi laughs slightly as she crosses her arms and brings one hand to her chin. "Although, I wasn't told I couldn't kill you and strip you of that mark."

"My mark…?" Yusei raises his brow in a combination of suspicion and confusion.

A chilling, innocent laugh fills the air and resonates throughout the watery field.

"But of course. It's necessary to have the five marks of the Crimson Dragon to break the seal on the White Dragon."

Kairi smiles.

"With its powers we can purge the world of all evils."

Yusei and the others jump in response to the girls words. What did she mean by purging the world of all evils? And what exactly was this White Dragon?

"I'm sorry, Yusei…," Kairi's expression becomes cold and merciless, "But on my next turn, I'll have to send you to hell."

***

The small table sitting in the living room is knocked over as the young boy's body goes crashing into it. The boy, Rua, could hear the cry of his sister from the other side of their home where he was mindlessly working on duel combinations. When he arrived at the scene, he found his twin sister rushing further into the house as a dangerous looking stranger strolled into their home. Naturally he tried to protect his sister. He noticed the stranger was carrying a duel disk so he challenged him to a duel. However, he was easily overpowered, and once the duel was over, the stranger approached him and tossed him aside like garbage.

Ruka runs to her brother to see if he's okay. Bring just watches from his position with a less than interested expression.

"Rua! Rua come on! Open your eyes!" The little girl desperately cries.

Bring scratches the back of his head and curses his luck.

"Hey kid." He calls out to grab Ruka's attention. "I'm not here to hurt you dammit…"

Ruka picks her brother up in her arms and turns to shoot the intruder an untrusting glare.

"Tsch." Bring curses under his breath once again. "That mark on your arm must give you a lot of trouble. All kinds of super villains and what not attack you and your bro." Bring speaks with slight sarcasm.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ruka tightens her stare.

Bring sighs and begins to rummage through his pockets for something. He eventually pulls out a weird stone tied to the end of a string to form what looked like a necklace. He smiles and holds it up for Ruka to see before throwing it on the floor a few inches in front of her.

"You can hold on to that for a little. Don't trust anyone else carrying a stone like that okay?"

Ruka looks curiously at the stone. She slowly takes her left hand away from her brother and scoops the stone up while examining it at the same time. She didn't know what was going on or if she should trust this guy who'd just thrashed Rua. His voice still seemed hostile but his delivery carried with it a slight feeling of concern.

Suddenly, his open palm comes into her view. He had approached her while she was deep in thought, knelt down, and extended his hand.

"Just lemme borrow your power for a bit. Give me your mark and everything will turn out fine in the end."

"Wha..."

That's all Ruka could manage to say as the class door that led to the rooftop area bursts into millions of shards. A motorcycle…no, a white duel runner for some reason bursts into the room and stops at the sight of the two. Soon afterwards, a red and yellow duel runner follows in through the path the first made.

Ruka looks on in bewilderment. Bring on the other hand smiled as the two newcomers jumped off of their rides.

"Is this the guy you were talking about?" The rider of the red and yellow duel runner takes off his helmet to reveal none other than Tyson.

"Yeah. That's him. No mistaking it."

Akira removes his helmet and drops it straight to the ground as he detaches the card zone from the borrowed duel runner to use as his duel disk. He takes his deck from the case on his waist and inserts it into the deck slot. Finally, without another word, he turns to stare down Bring as if he were his sworn enemy.

Bring smiles menacingly.

"What took you so long, partner?"


	10. Chapter 10: Flames of Corruption!

Chapter 10: Flames of Corruption! The Destined Rematch!

"Tsch. You know we've gotta stop meeting like this Akira." Bring brings his hand to his forehead and mockingly shakes his head. "If we keep this up, we'll end up destroying the entire city." Bring laughs.

Akira glances past Bring at Ruka who is still holding her brother.

"Are you okay? You aren't hurt are you?"

"Wha... what's going on!? Who are you people and what do you want!?" Ruka was frantic and confused. Although she had experience with dire situations like this, she was still a little girl. Had it not been for her brother, Yusei, and the others, she would have perished a long time ago.

Akira wasn't flustered by Ruka's urgency. He remained strong and calm. Something about him was different. Then she realized it, a glowing mark on the boy's right arm; the mark of a Signer. Ruka couldn't help but stare at the boy in amazement.

"Okay, now I'm confused."

Akira looks over his shoulder at Tyson who was standing a few feet behind him.

"Tyson, can you get those two to a safe place?"

"Wha!?" Tyson asks with a dumbfounded face. "I thought the plan was for me to distract this guy while you did the rescuing. I wanted to duel man!"

"Now really isn't the time for this…" Akira reacts with a less than pleased expression. "Look, just do this for me will ya. I've already dueled with this guy before so I know how he plays. And besides," Akira returns his gaze to Bring "I've got a score to settle with this guy."

Tyson scratches his head with a disappointed look as he puts two and two together from what Akira told him. He takes a deep sigh and pats his friend on the shoulder as he casually walks towards the twins. As he passes Bring however, a stagnant pressure fills the air. Tyson stops in his tracks and shoots Bring a heavy glare. Bring does the same. Tyson grins.

"So you like dragons do ya?"

Bring's eyes widen. It was only for a second, but one of Tyson's eyes changed into something inhuman. Almost like a dragon. Tyson smiles as he continues walking towards Ruka.

Ruka looks at him curiously as he picks up her brother. Although she protests to it at first, she reminds herself that Tyson was the mysterious boy's friend. Although the boy with the scar didn't exactly strike her as an enemy, she figured her best bet right now was with Akira. Tyson glances down at her shortly before she meets his eyes and nods to give him confirmation.

Tyson and the twins make there way to his duel runner. Tyson sets Rua down on the backseat first then he sits down in the front seat. Rua takes the backseat along with her brother. As soon as she gets on, Tyson presses a button which folds out a pair of wings.

"Hang on tight okay." Tyson calls out to Ruka and quickly glances at Akira. "Try not to have too much fun okay."

Tyson revs up his duel runner and the three exit through the same way he and Akira came. The only people left in the house now are Akira and Bring. The two stare each other down and present their duel disks to signal the start of the battle.

"Duel!" The two declare in unison.

Akira: 4000

Bring: 4000

"Since you went first in our last duel, I'll go first." Bring takes the top card off of his deck and adds it to his hand. "And I'll start by playing one monster face-down in defense mode. I'll toss two face-downs for good measure and that'll be all for now."

Bring smirks at Akira and holds up three fingers. It was a signal. The fiery duelist was stating now that he was going to defeat his opponent in three turns.

Akira's expression doesn't change, however Bring can still sense the anxiety inside of him. In a way, this duel was more of a mind game than a duel monsters duel. The two already knew each others cards and abilities so naturally each duelist would rely on that information knowing that the other was aware of that as well. It was now a matter of who would lose their cool and who was the most flexible.

At least that would be the case normally.

"My turn," Akira draws his card and places it in his hand. He figured that Bring was defending his weaker monster with two traps. In their previous duel, Bring used a handful of troublesome Glyph monsters that controlled the field in masses but were relatively weak alone. So if Bring were to play a monster on its own, it would probably be his Glyph Box so that he could swarm the field with his Glyph monsters all at once. So, if that were the case.

"I summon my Twilight Warrior- Alia (ATK 1200) in attack mode." Akira plays his best option as the white magician appears from a brilliant pillar of light. "Next, because I have a Twilight Warrior of a different name on my field, I can special summon my Twilight Warrior- Kyrvie (ATK 1000) from my hand."A new Twilight Warrior emerges from light; a young girl, seemingly younger than Alia, dressed in a black and white thief's outfit with green hair and dual daggers.

Upon seeing each other, the two girls run towards each other and embrace with Alia spinning Kyrvie around in circles.

"Are these your new monsters?" Bring asks with a hint of mockery.

The two warriors stop their embrace and turn their attention to their opponent.

"Don't judge them by their appearances Bring. These two are about to put me in an early lead. Now Alia, attack his face down monster!"

Akira designates the target and his magician follows through. She flies into the air with her staff in hand and unleashes a blast of chaotic magic at Bring's face down.

"So predictable!" Bring cries out.

His monster is revealed as the attack continues. It appeared to be a red haired magician, a familiar one by the name of Blazing Hiita (DEF 1500).

"Maybe you're the one that's predictable Bring." Akira smiles.

Before Bring is able to comprehend what Akira meant, a dagger attached to a long chain flies towards his defense position monster and coils around her, ensnaring her and slowly forcing the spellcaster into attack position. The source of the chain was none other than Akira's second monster Kyrvie. Thanks to the support of her ally, Alia could now carry out the attack orders she was given without holding back. With only 800 ATK to protect herself with, Hiita is now match for Alia's attack and soon vanishes in a wave of magical energy.

Akira: 4000

Bring: 3600

Bring scoffs at the result.

"Is that your monster's ability? Seems awfully convenient."

"You could say that." Akira nods to himself. "Once per turn when a Twilight Warrior other than Kyrvie attacks, I can change the battle position of the targeted monster."

Bring smirks at his opponent. Hew as enjoying the match. It was only natural to him of course. He was the type of duelist who would pick a fight just to find a worthwhile opponent. Not only was Akira a worthy opponent, but he also sported a deck packed with monsters he'd never even heard of before as well as some kind of odd power. That's why Bring's blood boiled at the though of facing Akira again. Now that he was using a deck he was accustomed to, Bring could really cut loose.

"I activate my trap, Backfire!" Bring points to his trap as it activates. "When a fire-type monster on my field is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, you suffer 500 points of damage!"

Akira tries to keep a cool face as he saw such a move coming but he can't help but show a slight grimace for an instant.

The effect of Bring's trap initiates as a ball of fire shoots from the face of the card and is sent flying towards his opponent. The blaze easily passes by Akira's warriors and brushes over him as he crosses his arms over his face.

Akira: 3500

Bring: 3600

"I place three face-downs and end my turn." Akira continues to stay calm as he places two face-down cards. To be honest he was thrown a little off. His opponent was using a different deck than before. Although he had the ability to adapt to what Bring was going to do next, Akira now lost the advantage of knowing the cards in his opponent's deck. Judging by the effect of his Backfire card he probably had a deck full of fire-monsters which usually meant a burn deck. However, the combo potential of Bring's cards was still unknown. But then again, no one really knew the cards in his deck either.

"Very good!" Bring mockingly claps his hands and draws his next card. "But I'm afraid it's not good enough my friend. I summon my Fire Trooper (ATK 1000) in attack mode!" A beastly warrior consumed in flames emerges from a growing flame. "But he won't be staying around for long because his special ability allows me to send him to the graveyard once he's summoned." Bring's monster is removed from the field as soon as it's summoned.

"Why would you get rid of your monster as soon as it's summoned?" Akira asks in confusion.

"Just wait and see my friend." Bring grins mercilessly at Akira. "When my Fire Trooper is sent to the graveyard by this effect, you take 1000 points of direct damage!"

"Again!?"

A fireball shoots from Bring's graveyard and grows in size as it flies with great speed past Akira's warriors and hits him. Akira is sent backwards to the ground from the impact and lands firmly on his back. As he struggles to get back to his feet, Alia and Kyrvie look at him with concern.

Akira: 2500

Bring: 3600

"Lucky for you we're not dueling in the seal right now or else you'd probably be a goner right now." Bring smiles to himself as he picks over the cards in his hand before picking another one. "Next, by removing the Fire Trooper in my graveyard from play, I special summon Inferno (ATK 1100) in attack mode!"

Another monster made completely out of flames appears on Bring's side of the field.

"Now my Inferno attacks your Twilight Warrior- Kyrvie!"

Bring's monster opens its mouth and spews out a fierce stream of fire. The green-haired warrior guards herself against the flames and is able to protect herself momentarily but is ultimately consumed and destroyed by the attack.

Akira: 2400

Bring:3600

"Now thanks to my monster's ability, when it destroys a monster and sends it to the graveyard, you suffer and additional 1500 points of damage to your life points!"

Akira grinds his teeth as he watches his life points go down more, finally getting on his feet.

Akira: 900

Bring: 3600

"Tsch." Akira cracks a smile much to Bring's surprise.

Akira stands tall and raises his head. His eyes were glowing blue similar to the last time they'd dueled. The power of the White Dragon was manifesting inside him again, although it didn't seem as though it was to the same extent as last time.

"I activate my trap, Twilight Burst!" Akira points to his face-down as it activates and flips up. "When a Twilight Warrior on my side of the field is destroyed through battle, I can special summon 1 level 4 or lower Twilight Warrior from my hand to the field. And I choose my Twilight Warrior- Ehr (ATK 1500)!"

Akira's trap resolves as it turns into a portal of light which his warrior rushes through. The blade wielding warrior was what won the match for Akira last time and it would prove to seal his victory this time around as well.

"Next I activate my second trap, Retaliating Arcana Force!" Akira activates yet another trap. "With this card, if a Twilight Warrior I controlled was destroyed by battle and I have another Twilight Warrior on my field, I can destroy all monsters on your field with an attack equal to or less than the selected monster's!"

"What…?" Bring asks in disbelief as Alia hovers in the air above his monster looking less than pleased.

Alia holds her staff over her head as black and white magical energy begin to spiral together unleashing waves or negative energy. She soon brings down her staff with both hands unleashing a volley of powerful magic that sweeps away Bring's monster.

Bring shields his face from the resulting shockwave as Alia returns to her master's side.

"Not a bad move." Bring returns his attention to the field. He looks at Akira's monsters, his face-down, and the single card in his hand. He on the other hand still had two cards in his hand and a face-down. Not to mention his overall lead in life points. Bring's expression mellows out.

"Because my Inferno was destroyed and sent to the graveyard, you take 500 points of damage."

Bring states so calmly as a fireball shoots from his trap card and brushes over Akira. Akira doesn't do so much as blink.

Akira: 400

Bring: 3600

Bring looks closely at the determination in Akira's eyes. He was unmoving and almost scary. Unlike most duelists, he seemed to become even more of a threat when he was obviously cornered.

Bring smiles with a hint of satisfaction.

"This duel is a draw isn't it Akira?"

Akira raises an eyebrow with a mixture of confusion and annoyance on his face. He didn't see the same thing that Bring was seeing.

"This turn you'll draw and summon a monster." Bring continues. "Because your Alia can't attack this turn, you'll attack me with your Twilight Warrior- Ehr, reducing my life points to 2500." Bring points to his face-down card. "Then I'll activate my trap card, Burnout, which will destroy your Ehr."

Akira glares silently at Bring.

"And then something tells me you'll use that card in your hand to bring out your ace monster. Am I right?"

Akira smiles slightly. Upon their first duel, Akira took Bring as the type of duelist who was rash and instinctive. However, now he was seeing a side of Bring that he hadn't seen before. He was fierce and calculated; a deadly combination.

"So Akira, how many attack points does your ace monster have exactly?"

"Hmmm. What a coincidence." Akira smiles to himself. "My monster has exactly 2500 attack points."

Bring nods with a slight shrug.

"At that point I'd be forced to use my last face-down, Ring of Destruction." Bring states as he points to his other face-down.

"Reducing both our life points to zero." Akira completes Bring's thought.

The fiery duelist nods as the holograms fade away and the duel is brought to an end prematurely. Bring closes his eyes with a smile on his face as he turns his back to Akira and begins walking to his duel runner. Akira watches momentarily before stepping forward to speak.

"You could've won. Am I right Bring?"

Bring stops for a moment and looks over his shoulder with a serious expression on his face. The two duelists exchanged stares and stayed like that for a minute or two. In the end, it was Akira that would break the silence and speak up once again.

"What is it that you're after Bring? What exactly is your goal and why do you want the White Dragon?"

Bring remains silent. He continues to stare at Akira for a few more seconds before turning back in the direction of the exit.

"What we seek is the power to protect those we care for the most. The same power we turned our back on so long ago."

Akira is taken aback by Bring's comment. He recalls the dark world with the single road and how he turned his back on Aki to find the path he called himself traveling now.

The now setting sun had bathed the room in its light. Bring walks through the broken glass wall and steps outside into onto the roof area. He faces Akira one last time to confirm his resolve. Although it was now wavering compared to a few minutes ago, there was still a strong sense of determination in his eyes.

"Never lose sight of what's important to you Akira." Bring speaks cryptically. "If there is something that you wish to protect then protect it. Or else you will see it consumed by the shadows before your very eyes. I once thought that there was a way for me gain power and protect what I loved at the same time. But that was just a lie and it was that very idea that costs me everything."

Akira's eyes widen in disbelief. This guy, Bring, was almost exactly like him. They'd made the same choice. The only difference however was that Akira had yet to suffer because of it. The thought of Aki calling out to him desperately as she is consumed by the shadows appears in his mind again and causes him to have a fit.

"Why should I trust you!? What do you know huh!? You tried to kill me before and you even burned down that hospital with all those innocent people inside! You're the enemy!"

Bring clenches his fist and grits his teeth. Seeing this, Akira is again taken by surprise.

"Don't you get it Akira!? If it weren't for me you wouldn't have the power you have now!"

Akira steps back and opens his mouth to speak but quickly finds that he is speechless. It wasn't exactly a lie. It was because of his duel with Bring that he was able to awaken the power of the White Dragon.

"Akira, I'm not your enemy but the people who will come after you are. I've lost my way and my good intentions have given birth to evil actions. But it's not too late for you. I just hope you realize that soon."

And with those words, the stone around his neck erupts into flames and consumes Bring's image. Before Akira knew it, the boy had vanished before the setting sun.

It was all happening so fast and now he was plagued with even more questions than before. All he wanted to do was meet the girl in his dreams one more time. Instead, he got pulled into a world that seemed to be filled with chaos and destruction.

Overwhelmed, Akira falls to his knees and plants his hands on the cold floor. It was the same as before. His life was falling apart and there was no one there who could help him.

* * *

**Featured Cards:**

**Twilight Warrior- Kyrvie**

3 Star/LIGHT/Warrior/Effect/ATK 1000/DEF 700

If you control a "Twilight Warrior" monster other than "Twilight Warrior- Kyrvie", you can special summon this monster from your hand. Once per turn when a "Twilight Warrior" you control other than "Twilight Warrior- Kyrvie" declares and attack, you may change the battle position of the selected target during the battle step. If the monster is in face-down defense position, flip it to face-up attack position.

**Retaliating Arcana Force**

Trap Card

Activate only during your opponent's turn. During the turn a face-up "Twilight Warrior" on your side of the field was destroyed by battle, if you have another face-up "Twilight Warrior" on your side of the field, destroy all monsters on your opponent's side of the field with an attack equal to or less than the selected monster. The "Twilight Warrior" used for this effect cannot declare an attack during your next turn.

**Twilight Burst**

Trap Card

When a "Twilight Warrior" on your side of the field is destroyed in battle, special summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Twilight Warrior" from your hand to the field.

**Burnout**

Trap Card

When one of your opponent's monsters deals direct damage to your life points, destroy the monster.


	11. Chapter 11: The Chosen Path

Author's Note: This chapter is a little bit longer than some of the previous ones. I basically wanted to wrap up most of the character and plot introductions. After this chapter you will see more plot development and further involvement with the main cast from the series. So for now, please enjoy. Don't forget to comment.

* * *

Chapter 11: The Chosen Path

The sky had long since turned to a sad, dull color. The rain continued to fall from the sky and slowly began to flood the streets below. The atmosphere could only be described as dreadful. No one was moving around in the streets. There were no lights on that night in Neo Domino City as everyone had seemingly turned in for the night. That is everyone except for Yusei and gang.

Yusei and the gang were all sitting quietly in the garage having barely survived their encounters earlier in the day. Rua and Ruka sat next to each other on the stairs on the verge of collapsing. Their heads would occasionally bob up and down as they fought off their dreariness but they'd doze off every five minutes or so. Jack and Crow were stationed over in the corner with Jack leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and Crow sitting in a chair backwards. Yusei was sitting in front of the computer with his hands clasped together in front of his face. Aki on the other hand seemed the most troubled of all. She sat motionlessly in her chair like a doll. She'd asked for a cup of water a long time ago to help calm her nerves but she'd failed to take one sip of it. She just continued to look at her reflection in the cup.

"Hey. He's been gone for awhile now. Don't you think we should go and search for him?" Aki lifts her head and speaks to the group meekly.

There was no response. No one so much as moved in response to her words. The only sound that could be heard for minutes after was the sound of the heavy rain pounding against the side of the building.

Aki swallows her words and lowers her head once again to her lap. She could understand why no one wanted to talk but this silence was just unnatural.

"I'm sure your friend is fine, Aki."

Aki jerks her head up at the sound of someone else's voice piercing the silence. She looks over to Yusei who had yet to move, but the simple thought that Yusei was still able to comfort her told her that he was still okay.

But it was a different story in Yusei's mind. No matter how many times he replayed it in his head he still couldn't believe it. Stardust Dragon, his ace monster, was destroyed as if it were nothing and his life points were reduced to zero before he even got the chance to deal damage to his opponent. It was a crushing humiliating defeat.

"I'll spare your life this time Yusei. But if you know what's good for you, there better not be a next time."

Kairi's words continue to echo in his head. After the duel was done, Kairi used the stone around her neck to drain the energy of the Crimson Dragon out of Yusei's body. With no energy left from the duel Yusei was powerless to stop her. He watched as the glow from his mark died and vanished all together. With his mark gone, Kairi had obtained what she'd come for and vanished as if she'd evaporated into the air.

"How could this have happened?" Yusei mumbles to himself as he clenches his hands tighter.

Aki opens her mouth to speak again after seeing that Yusei is obviously troubled; however, the right words escape her and she is once again unable to say anything. Aki directs her attention to the twins who were now sound asleep. She realized now that they'd been through just as much today as everyone else had. They were attacked and their home was destroyed by a mysterious man. If it hadn't been for Tyson and Akira who knows what would've happened to them.

"Tyson…Please be safe…" Ruka mumbles softly in her sleep. Those were the last words she said to Tyson before he left.

"I don't know why, but the idea of leaving that guy by himself just doesn't sit right with me. I feel like he'll do something stupid ya know."

Tyson said those words with a goofy shrug and smile after he dropped Rua and Ruka off. He'd been gone since then. That was hours ago. Aki just couldn't shake the idea that something bad could've happened to him, or even worse, that something happened to Akira.

"Ah." A pained breath escapes Aki.

It was becoming a familiar feeling to her now. Whenever she thought of Akira, a sharp pain shot through her heart. She raises her hand from the glass in her lap and places it on her chest over her heart.

"Why? Why do I feel this way? It's as if my heart is telling me that I'm forgetting something really important to me. But what is it?"

Aki was on the verge of crying but she kept her tears back so as not to seem like she was breaking down. She looks up at through the window to the dreary sky. It may have just been wishful thinking, but she hoped that Akira was okay.

***

Tyson opens his eyes to find himself staring at a warehouse ceiling. Looking around all he sees are crates neatly stacked on top of each other and his duel runner parked near the entrance. His jacket was hanging off of the crate next to him and his shoes were on the floor next to him in a small puddle of water.

"Man. I must've dozed off." Tyson states to himself as he gets up and stretches.

He grabs his shoes and puts them on before reaching for his jacket. But the lightest tug does nothing to move it. Confused, Tyson turns and looks up to find that a stray cat had wandered in and fallen asleep on his jacket. The brown and white cat was breathing rather irregularly and its fur was soaked. Tyson figured it'd wandered in here to get out of the rain and keep warm.

"Sorry little buddy." Tyson whispers with a smile.

He turns to the entrance of the warehouse and walks to the doorway. He stops before stepping into the rain and places his hands in his pockets as he looks up to the sky. How long had it been now since he went to look for his friend?

"Akira." Tyson calls out the boy's name as if he were standing right next to him. The image of Aki's face briefly flashes in his mind. Although Tyson was a little uneasy leaving Akira to fight Bring alone, he felt that Akira was more than capable of handling himself. But when Aki saw Tyson without Akira she had an uneasy expression on her face. He could tell she was genuinely worried about him. So Tyson made up a lie to go search for Akira on his own.

"Come on man." Tyson speaks in slight irritation as he scratches the back of his head. "If you keep this up you'll make her worry even more than she is now."

***

Akira stands with his back against the wall looking only over his shoulder to look out the window. He had just recently made it home so he'd yet to dry off from the pouring rain. Watery footsteps trailed in from the front door all the way to his room because he was too out of it to think to take off his wet clothes. There was just too much on his mind.

"Hey, you there? I wanted to ask you a question. I know I kind of cheated when I made my choice, but this road I picked…does it have any consequences I should know about?"

Akira's words echo off into the empty house giving birth to silence. The dragon residing within him did not give an immediate response and there was no one else there who could give him an answer. It wasn't like it was a new feeling to him. Akira had been alone for some time now. Silence was his family.

"_That is something you must answer for yourself." _The dragon's voice finally echoes in Akira's head. _"Because this is a path you have created for yourself, only you can possibly know where it will lead you. Whether or not you hurt anyone in the process is entirely dependent on the decisions you make."_

Akira laughs and hops off the wall. He looks down at his bed on the left and gazes at the small frame sitting neatly on the covers. It was a simple but sentimental picture of him and a young girl about the same age as him. He was dressed in an Obelisk Blue blazer and she was in Slifer Red. It was a picture taken on their first day at the Duel Academy. The girl with the innocent green eyes and auburn hair was his sister, Akari.

Seeing the picture, Akira turns his head with an expression of sorrow as he walks out of the room and closes the door behind him.

"You make it sound so simple."

***

Tyson and Aki stand under an overhang just outside of Poppo Time. The two hadn't really exchanged that many words between each other despite the fact that Aki requested to talk to Tyson upon returning. Tyson on the other hand could have easily started up a conversation; it was one of his fortes after all. But when he looked at Aki's face, he could tell that his sunny disposition would only worsen the situation.

"You know," Tyson breaks the stifling silence, "I pretty sure he's fine." Tyson takes off his wet cap and scratches the back of his head in an attempt to avoid eye contact with Aki. He couldn't consciously tell her something he didn't quite believe. "He probably went home or something."

Aki responses with a simple nod but her expression doesn't ease in the slightest. She wasn't exactly responding to what he said but rather the sound of his words. She was in her own world replaying the scene of the smiling boy from years ago over and over in her head.

"You're his friend right? Do you know where he lives?"

"Sadly no." Tyson sighs but his words sound slightly higher in spirit. Maybe he was happy to get a conversation out of Aki. "Like I told you before, I just met Akira recently at the preliminary matches for the city tournament coming up." Tyson puts his cap back on and leans against the cold brick wall behind them. "After that, one weird thing after another has happened and I somehow got caught up in Akira's problem which somehow seems to be linked to you guys."

Aki looks up at Tyson. He only knew the details she was already aware of. If she wanted any answers to her questions she would have to ask Akira herself.

"You know…" Tyson voice breaks the silence yet again. Aki figures he must be one of those people who fear silence.

"When I met him, he did tell me one thing; why he was looking for you and all."

Aki lifts her head up slowly. She had forgotten about it, but Tyson did ask her to stick around the hospital while he was injured because he had a friend that wanted to speak to her. In light of the events that followed, she never really gave Akira the opportunity to explain his case. On the other hand, he did hint towards it during their match before it was interrupted. If Tyson could tell her what Akira was trying to tell her then she had to know.

Aki turns her head to Tyson and the two's eyes meet. Aki meets Tyson's nonchalant gaze with an intense, determined stare. Seeing this, Tyson couldn't help but crack a smile as he simplified what he wanted to say in his head.

"Three words…"

***

Akira drives up to the front of a small building with a sign designating it as Poppo Time. The mark on his right arm glows brightly in contrast to the dark backdrop as it directs him closer and closer to the shop. He brakes and stops only a few yards away from his destination. The light dies down as he removes his helmet and stares at the entrance. There stood Aki Izayoi. She was aware of his presence, but she continued to avoid his gaze as she continued to look down.

Akira dismounts the borrowed duel runner and slowly approaches Aki for what can only be described as a momentary eternity. His feet soon stop without him even telling them to. His eyes had told him that Aki was still far away but in fact she was right in front of him. She hadn't moved, but she was standing there in front of him with her face now buried in his chest. Akira felt stupid. He could feel her warm body gently pressed up against his and it caused his heart to jump. The idea of his heart pounding Aki's face through his chest made him wish he was dead.

"Aki…I…was thinking about something…and well…"

Aki's arms move and her hands grab onto Akira's arms. She lifts her face from his chest revealing her flushed appearance. Akira was taken aback. In his mind, he figured he would've been happy to see her blushing face. Instead he was confused because the red face in front of him looked more angry than bashful.

"Aki?" Akira raises an eyebrow.

"Where have you been!? We've been looking everywhere for you!" The rose duelist explodes. "Especially me…"

Aki's anger slowly dissipates as she gently pushes away from Akira to create some space between the two. Her lips squirm slightly as if she were blending words together in her mouth. Akira picked up on this quickly but it only served to confuse him more. What's more, he began to realize how troublesome the situation was as Aki was uncomfortably beautiful. Maybe it was just a reaction to her face, but he knew without a doubt that the two of them were blushing together.

"I'm sorry…" Aki breaks the silence and looks at Akira with uncertainty in her eyes. "What I mean to say is that no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to remember you. And as for your search for me…" Aki averts her gaze suddenly as she blushes deeper. She had no experience with this sort of thing.

"I figured as much." Akira interjects. "I guess I can't really say I was hoping for much anyway."

"So you're not mad?" Aki asks with disbelief and a slight hint of disappointment.

"Not at all. That's actually part of the reason why I came here. I was hoping we could finish our duel. I think after that you'd be able to remember me better."

Aki's shoulders slump as her mouth slowly opens and confusion washes over her. Was she not able to get her message across or was Akira just plain bad at reading people?

"Man you're bad at this."

A familiar voice comes from behind the two. Looking back, the pair finds none other than Tyson exiting Poppo Time with a less than pleased expression.

"Tyson? What are you doing here?" Akira tilts his head.

"I figured you'd swing by here eventually. Then I could get that back." Tyson yawns as he points behind Akira towards the duel runner he let him borrow. "Besides, we're buddies now aren't we? After we've been through so much, how can you be so cold? I was worried about ya pal." Tyson states rather plainly with a shrug. "Oh, and by the way…" Tyson places his hands in his pockets and grins. "You two look pretty comfortable."

Aki realizes what Tyson is getting at right off the bat and quickly pulls her hands away from Akira and turns her back to him. Akira continues to stand there with a puzzled look. Just a few moments ago Aki seemed like she was on the verge of tears. Now, she had reverted to the hostile aura she gave him when he first approached her.

"So you are angry…" Akira mumbles to himself.

"Anywho, I'm always up for a good duel but I have a better idea." Tyson crosses his arms and seemingly begins to ramble to himself. "I propose a tag duel; you and Aki against me."

"What?" Akira and Aki ask in unison.

"Cut me some slack. I haven't had a good duel in awhile. And besides, you owe me Akira." Tyson states so confidently, yawns, and turns back into the entrance of the small building. "Let's meet here in the afternoon then. I'll let you hold that runner for one more day Akira so go home and get some sleep. Catch ya in the morning."

Tyson closes the door behind him. Whether or not he was intending to sleep here for the night was up in the air.

The two remaining duelists remain in silence for a moment before Akira breaks the silence with a sigh.

"I guess it would be kind of hard to duel in the rain." Akira holds his hand out to catch the falling drops as he looks up to the sky. He then returns his attentions to Aki who was until that point looking at him over her shoulder. When their eyes met again, the rose duelist snapped her head in the opposite direction as she turned red yet again.

"Why do you want to duel me? I don't want to duel you anymore and I'm the one that challenged you last time so…"

"I want to find the path I need to take and dueling is the only way I know how to."

Aki looks over her shoulder once again with less hostility worn on her face. Akira was just standing there with a soft smile.

"So I might as well knock out two birds with one stone right? Even if it's just a little bit, I'd like for you to remember me."

Aki turns around to face Akira completely. She couldn't tell if it was the rain or not, but the smile on his face couldn't fool her. She knew that face. It was the face of someone who was suffering inside but didn't want to show it. It was the face of someone who was hiding great pain in their heart while acting like nothing was wrong at all. Akira was wearing a mask. He was crying outright but he continued to smile no matter what. Such a sight was just too sad for Aki to watch. So without even thinking she approached Akira and pulled him close to her in a deep embrace.

"Tsch. I guess it was too much to ask for a normal life huh?" Akira asks with a convincingly happy tone.

Aki doesn't respond. Even if she couldn't remember who he was to her, she understood the pain he was going through.

"I'm sorry, Akira."

The two remain like that for quite some time afterwards. Unknown to them, the entrance to Poppo Time had remained cracked allowing a certain baseball cap wearing duelist to listen in. He lowers his cap over his eyes and leans against the wall next to the entrance. Muttering something under his breath, he extends his arm, places his hand on the door, and shuts it.


	12. Chapter 12: The Power to Move Forward

Chapter 12: The Power to Move Forward

"Alright! The number one duelist Tyson makes his triumphant return to the dueling scene!"

It's just a few minutes after one o' clock and Tyson is already revved up for his duel. He makes some kind of strange announcement and draws everyone's attention to himself by pointing to the sky as he does so. He receives questionable glares from practically everyone.

"Well I guess it's better than him narrating the entire duel." Rua thinks out loud. She intended for her brother to hear it but upon looking next to her she quickly sees that he's to into the pre-duel build-up to hear what she says.

"Geez," Akira sighs, "Just how much sleep can this guy operate on?"

The three duelists had met outside of Poppo Time as they unintentionally planned and were ready to start the duel. Akira glances to his left to meet Aki's eyes briefly before she averts her gaze with yet another red face. Aki's weird behavior was really starting to make him wonder but her red face could only mean one thing. Thinking about it, Akira turns to a grinning Tyson with a slightly ticked expression.

"You did something unnecessary…" Akira grumbles with a hint of red in his face.

On the sidelines, the remaining Signers discuss in secrecy.

"So he's the other Signer Aki was talking about?" Crow asks both Jack and Yusei.

"Yeah," Yusei nods, "Although we still aren't sure if he really is a Signer, the mark on his arm is just as real as the others. The only problem is that there are only supposed to be five of us."

"Yusei," Jack's voice interrupts the conversation, "Do you think it's possible that he has something to do with they girl who took your mark?"

Yusei and the others return their attention to the three before them. It was a reasonable assumption given the circumstances. And what's more, Yusei was aware of something that the others weren't. That night, when the group went to check out the explosion downtown, the girl that Yusei ended up carrying to the hospital had the same stone as the one who stole his mark. That girl was with Tyson and Tyson is Akira's friend. In his mind, they were somehow linked.

"Duel!" Aki, Tyson, and Akira declare the start of the match in unison.

Tyson: 4000

Aki: 4000

Akira: 4000

"My turn, draw!" Tyson takes the first turn and draws his first card. "And I'll start by summoning Blizzard Dragon (ATK 1800) in attack mode!" A small, blue winged-dragon appears on Tyson's field letting out a small roar. "I place two face-downs and end my turn."

Akira noticed right off the bat that Tyson had changed his deck from the Elemental Hero one he used during the tournament preliminaries. In addition, Tyson had given him a Blizzard Dragon card so he knew its effect and that it was a pretty powerful card to play right off the bat. But what was bothering him the most was the actual duel's set up. Both he and Aki had four thousand life points apiece while Tyson only had enough for himself. So either Tyson was extremely confident in himself or his new deck was extremely powerful.

"Aki, be careful."

"Right. You don't have to tell me Akira. My turn, draw!" Aki reassures her partner as she takes the second turn. "I summon my Phoenixian Seed (ATK 800) in attack mode." A budding seed with a giant eye appears on the field. "Next, I activate my monster's ability. By sending my face-up monster to the graveyard, I can special summon one Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis (ATK 2200) from my hand!" Aki releases her monster and in its place summons a flower that vaguely resembles a bird. "Now, Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis, attack Tyson's Blizzard Dragon!"

"I activate my trap, Torrential Tribute!" Tyson's face-down flips up and activates. The field is flooded by a large tidal wave as both Tyson's dragon and Aki's flower are swept up and destroyed.

"My monster's effect activates. When it's destroyed, my opponent takes eight hundred points of damage!"

A red aura surrounds Tyson as the simulated pain causes him to cringe and lose life points.

Tyson: 3200

Aki: 4000

Akira: 4000

"Next, by removing a plant type monster in my graveyard from play, I can special summon my Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis (DEF 0) back to my field." Aki's monster is revived as it folds its wing-like petals to defend itself and Aki. "I'll then place two face-downs and end my turn."

Aki ends her turn and returns control to Tyson.

"Awesome. My turn then." Tyson draws his next card and smiles upon seeing it. This causes the other two to tense up. "I summon Luster Dragon (ATK 1900)!" The beautiful dragon is summoned to the field. "But he won't be hanging around because now I'm gonna release him to special summon a monster from my hand!"

The sapphire dragon lets out a loud roar as it is consumed in a pillar of light that extends to the sky. Akira and the others hold their arms in front of their faces to shield their eyes.

"Now make way for one of my strongest monsters, Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (ATK 2800)!" Tyson holds his hand up to the sky as the terrifying dragon crashes down onto the field. Its metallic body looms over the field, as it lets out a roar and sets its sights on Aki and Akira.

"What? He was able to special summon a strong card like that from his hand?" Crow asks allowed from the sidelines.

"Of course," Jack nods his head as he understands the situation, "That boy is obviously using a power deck. To overwhelm your opponents with powerful monsters is the number one rule of dueling with such a style. It is only natural that he would have a monster like that in his deck."

"Dragon, beatdown, and…" Akira holds his hand to his chin and speaks to himself. He was taking apart Tyson's new deck strategy but something was still off. There was a missing element and he knew it. Waiting for Tyson's next move, Akira looks over at Aki and her monster.

"Next I'll play the spell card Giant Trunade which returns all spell and trap cards on the field to the respective player's hand!" Tyson activates his spell card causing a fierce wind to pick up. The two cards on Aki's field are swept right of the field along with the one on Tyson's field.

"Now Red-Eyes, attack her Amaryllis with Infernal Darkness Flare!"

Tyson commands his dragon and it responds almost simultaneously. The dragon roars as it gathers crimson energy in its mouth and fires it out all at once completely destroying Aki's monster.

Tyson: 3200

Aki: 3400

Akira: 4000

"Don't forget," Aki speaks while enduring the simulated pain, "when my Amaryllis is destroyed, you take eight hundred points of damage!"

Tyson simply smiles as his life points drop again. This causes Tyson to receive solid glares from both Aki and Akira.

Tyson: 2400

Aki: 3400

Akira: 4000

"Hey Yusei, why'd he go and do that?" Rua asks curiously. "Didn't he know that he'd take more damage if he'd attacked Sis's monster again? What's up?"

Yusei continued to watch the dragon duelist carefully. Before he'd seemed like a rather goofy and carefree person. But now, Yusei could see that he was a powerful, if not top-notch duelist.

"No. Actually what he did wasn't a bad strategy at all. If Tyson had let Aki's Amaryllis connect with its initial attack when it was summoned he would have taken four hundred points of damage. Next, because Amaryllis is destroyed after it attacks, Tyson would've taken and additional eight hundred points of damage. So instead he opted to destroy Aki's monster when it was attacking and take the eight hundred instead of the full twelve hundred."

Rua grumbles to himself as he holds his hands up and begins counting off on his fingers.

"Naturally, to maximize damage, Aki would use Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis's effect to special summon it from the graveyard to deal an additional eight hundred while at the same time protecting her life points." Crow continues with the observation. "My guess is Aki picked up on the fact that Tyson had a grasp on her monster's effect and decided to place some traps on the field should he summon a powerful or multiple monsters. But he even saw through that and managed to break through Aki's defense and summon a powerful monster."

The group turns their full attention to Akira.

"So now, unless Akira does something to stop him, Tyson can finish off Aki in his next turn." Yusei foresees a premature end to the battle.

"I think I'll throw these two face-downs and end my turn." Tyson ends his turn with a playful smile.

"My turn! Draw!" Akira wastes no time starting his turn as he draws his card. He quickly places the new card in his hand as he shuffles them around in his hand to figure out the best combo he can create this turn. "The card he returned to his hand, what was it?" Akira trails off into his own little world as he continues to rapidly shuffle around his cards.

Tyson and Aki look over at him in amazement. The level of thought he was putting into his move was both amazing and somewhat weird. But something was beginning to click in the back off Aki's head. She recalls a young boy doing the same thing as Akira was now. That boy would soon become well known as the Red Ace of Duel Academy. "Akira…" Aki's words drift off almost with a slight sound of fondness.

"I'll start by summoning my Twilight Warrior- Ehr (ATK 1500) in attack mode." Akira's trademark warrior is summoned to the scene and stares down the dark dragon with determination despite the difference in their power. "Next, I'll play the field spell Moonlight Rose Garden."

A special slot on Akira's duel disk is opened allowing him to play yet another unique card. This time it was a field spell and its magic took affect quickly. The streets were soon paved in luminous white roses and the sky turned dark. The moon appeared in the sky above them and illuminated the field with its magnificent glow. The only thing more beautiful than the moonlight was the glow of the white roses in reflecting off the white warrior's armor.

"I'll place three face-downs and end my turn."

"What!" Aki expresses her sudden disbelief at her partner's move.

"He's not gonna do anything…?" Tyson mumbles a line of disbelief as well. If he wanted to now, he could easily defeat Aki. Even though this wasn't a standard team duel and Aki's loss wouldn't end the match for Akira, it was still a rather harsh move for him to make.

"What's he doing? Is he abandoning Aki?" Crow yells in frustration from the sideline.

Hearing this Aki gazes over at Akira and recalls them image of the injured boy lying beneath her. At that moment, more than anything, she wished for him to make eye contact with her, but he wouldn't. Slowly, memories of solitude and loneliness begin to sink in as betrayal sweeps over her. But then she remembers the night before and the few other times the two had actually talked. Akira had been nothing but open with her and downright weak if one wanted to be critical about it. If there was one thing Akira wasn't going to do, it would be to betray her.

"I trust you…" Aki says this aloud not for Akira to hear but more so that she herself could hear it.

Akira casually looks over at Aki with a puzzled face and shoots her a goofy smile and a dismissive wave. "What're you getting so serious about? It's just a game right?"

Aki smiles and nods before directing her attention back to Tyson.

Tyson grins to himself and draws his next card to begin his turn. "Man, you sure do act different when you duel dude. Nothing like how you are normally. But I guess that's a good thing."

Akira raises his eyebrow. He wasn't exactly ready to have a serious conversation nor did he exactly take complements well. When he thought about it, it was almost like he was intentionally being oblivious. Then again, maybe that's what gave him his dueling edge.

"Remember that feeling," Tyson continues to talk as he picks around with the cards in his hand, "and never forget it. Otherwise you'll get nowhere and you will always be looking behind you trying to convince yourself you're moving forward."

Akira is taken by surprise. Tyson may not have meant it, but his comment made too much sense to him. Akira recalls his dream and how he was lost due to misdirection. Even if it was hard and confusing, the fact that he actually decided to face his problem without an actual plan has gotten him this far and it was the only way he knew how to more forward. Maybe that's one of the things he lost when he stopped dueling and went off to control his psychic powers. Someone like Tyson would probably call it the "Spirit of the Duelist".

"If you turn your back to your enemies, they can see what you're burdened with. And once they see what you have to bare on your shoulders," Tyson moves his attention from Akira to Aki, "they'll take it away from you." This causes Aki to blush looking frantically between Akira and Tyson. "So stop crying and show me what you've got! If you can't even beat me then you might as well quit, Akira!" Tyson recalls the conversation Akira and Aki had the night before and then the conversation he and Aki had before that.

"You know…when I met him, he did tell me one thing; why he was looking for you and all."

Aki lifted her head up slowly. Aki turned her head to Tyson and the two's eyes met. Aki met Tyson's nonchalant gaze with an intense, determined stare that was also vulnerable stating that she wanted to know.

"Three words. I like her." Tyson said so with a smile.

Aki continues to glance over at Akira's face hoping for eye contact, but she had to keep averting her gaze to hide her bright red face. The boy made her mad for some reason and the fact that he was growing on her more and more upset her even more.

"I accept your challenge Tyson!" Akira states this with a grin as his eyes flash a bright blue and the infinity mark on his forehead appears yet again. "I activate my face-down, Battle Mania! During this turn, all face-up monsters my opponent controls are changed to attack position this turn and cannot change their position. In addition, those monsters have to attack this turn!"

One of Akira's three face-downs flips up and activates.

"Hmph. I don't know what you're thinking but I like that you're finally all fired up buddy! I'll start off by activating my Red-Eyes's special ability. This lets me special summon a dragon-type monster from my hand or graveyard. And I choose my Blizzard Dragon!" Tyson's Blizzard Dragon is removed from his graveyard and resummoned to the field just as powerful as it was before. "Now, Blizzard Dragon, attack Aki with Blizzard Burst!"

Tyson's dragon flies forward with a mighty roar and unleashes a stream of snow and ice from it mouth.

"I activate my face-down to protect Aki, Half or Nothing! With this card's effect, you have to choose either to halve the attack of all your monsters until the end of the battle phase or end the phase all together."

"I choose to halve my monsters' attack." Tyson holds his hand up to his chin and says so with a grin.

The strength of Tyson's two monsters in cut in half just as Blizzard Dragon's attack closes in on Aki causing her to bring her arms up to shield herself from the driving snow.

"Next, I activate another face-down, Staunch Defender! You see when my opponent declares an attack I get to select a monster on my side of the field. Then, for the rest of this turn you can't select another monster as an attack target and you have to attack with every monster on your field. And since Ehr is the only monster on my field and has 1500 attack points, say goodbye to both of your monsters!"

Blizzard Dragon's attack stops early much to Aki's surprise and doesn't even reach her. Instead, the blue dragon changes its flight path and positions itself to attack Akira's warrior. It pulls back its wings and flaps them forward with great strength sending out an icy gale to destroy Akira's Twilight Warrior.

"But that's not all! You see, with my Moonlight Rose Garden field spell active, any monster that attacks one of my Twilight Warriors looses 500 attack points until the end of the battle phase. So your monster becomes even weaker!"

"No way!" Tyson almost jumps and drops his cards at the sudden turn around.

A gale of white rose petals encircles Tyson's dragon and reduces it attack points even further from 900 to 400. Akira's brave warrior then waste's little time lunging forth and slashing the dragon in half with one powerful blow. Tyson shields his face from the aftershock as the simulated pain sinks in.

Tyson: 1300

Aki: 3400

Akira: 4000

Next, Tyson's Red-Eyes flies forward charging a ball of dark energy before firing it at Akira's monster. The dark dragon is encircled in white rose petals just as its ally was and its attack power drops accordingly. Akira's warrior jumps back into the air with its sword raised high above its head for a decisive blow.

"Grrr. I activate my face-down card, Reinforments, to cancel out the effect of your field spell!" Tyson makes a last ditch effort to preserve his life points. With the trap card activated, Tyson's dragon gains attack points equal to the ones it lost due to the field spell. However, it still wasn't enough as Akira' Ehr still manages to cleave the dragon in two; destroying it.

Tyson: 1200

Aki: 3400

Akira: 4000

"He really did it! I don't believe it!" Crow is surprised by Akira's move. "Not only was he able to defend Aki, but he also destroyed Tyson's monsters and dealt 1200 points of damage."

"Yeah," Yusei nods with a smile, "Akira is certainly a good duelist." Yusei's smile turns back into a serious face. "But something is still off."

"Why would Tyson set up a two on one duel knowing Aki and Akira's skill levels?" Jack finishes Yusei's thought.

Tyson takes off his cap and scratches his head. Akira just made a pretty impressive move. Using Battle Mania to make sure that the replay drawback to Staunch Defender wouldn't occur after using Half or Nothing to severely weaken his assault was something else. But he was prepared for this too. No, this is what he wanted. Seeing his plan come together made him smile happily.

"I guess it's time for Phase Two." Tyson speaks under his breath and places the cap back on his head. "I play the spell card Cards of Consonance. By sending a dragon-type tuner with 1000 attack or less from my hand to the graveyard, I get to draw two cards." Tyson plays his spell card and discards the last card in his hand and draws two more. "Next I activate my trap, Call of the Haunted, to revive the monster I just discarded. Be reborn, Disaster Dragon (ATK 1000)!" Tyson's last face-down finally activates and with it comes a golden dragon that appears on the field with a small roar. "Next, I'll normal summon Red-Eyes Wyvern (ATK 1800) to the field." Yet another smaller dragon appears on the field. This time it was a black dragon with red eyes.

Aki grasps the situation and so does Akira. Tyson was far from done and it was likely that he was just now getting started.

"It can't be!" Rua yells aloud from the sidelines.

"Synchro Summon!" Yusei realizes Tyson's plan and is surprised that he still had such powerful moves left to make.

"Now, I tune my Red-Eyes Wyvern with my Disaster Dragon!" Tyson's black dragon soars high into the air as the golden dragon follows behind it and turns into four green rings which soon enclose the wyvern. "Lone lights cluster amongst sound and fury! Their overwhelming might will shake the earth and illuminate the skies!" The black dragon becomes nothing more than an outline of its former self and a row of four lights before it and the four rings are consumed in a burst of light that crashes down to the ground behind Tyson. "Make yourself heard, Hopeless Dragon (ATK 3000)!" The light is shaken off by a fierce wind caused by the unfolding of the dragon's dark wings. Its gold and obsidian black body loomed over the battlefield with its mighty roar practically shaking the foundations surrounding it.

"Incredible! It's even stronger than his last monster!" Aki steps back as she looks up in awe of Tyson's new monster.

Akira glances at his partner and then redirects his attention to Tyson.

"Now the fun really begins. Let's see who's will is stronger Akira!"

The sun cannot reach them where they are. Bring and his partner Iori wait in the dark dining hall as a familiar water duelist approaches them with a less than friendly grin.

"Well, well. Long time no see." Kairi greets Bring and Iori in a near mocking manner. "Well it seems like you're finally Bring in both name and station huh Jason? Even though I don't think someone who had to try twice should be allotted such a high rank, I guess the master has his reasons." Kairi laughs slightly with a shake of the head and a shrug.

Bring doesn't pay her any mind. He wanted to duel her and handle her now, but if there was one thing he'd learned was that water and fire cancelled each other out. He'd risked too much to come this far and couldn't afford to loose it now.

"I guess it has been awhile. Wake now, right?" Bring simply responds with his usual tone.

Wake, formerly known as Kairi, turns up her nose to the street urchin causing Iori to shoot her an aggressive glare. If it had not been for Bring, the two would already have enough reason to be fighting right now.

"That's enough."

A new voice calls from the darkness and directs the trio's attention to the younger, but slightly older, boy approaching them from the next room. He was wearing all white in contrast to the darkness and had well groomed blonde hair giving an air of sophistication. He closes the book he was reading before looking into the eyes of the others causing them to almost freeze.

"Send…?" Iori's mumbles only loud enough for Bring who was next to her to hear.

Send turns back towards the room he entered from, stopping yet again to look over his shoulder. As he did so, Bring's eyes were able to focus enough to see the silhouettes of four more people standing in the shadows just beyond Send.

"If you're done quarreling, the master is ready now."

* * *

**Featured Cards:**

Note: Sorry guys, can't reveal too much about these cards because they'll ruin the surprises next chapter.

**Moonlight Rose Garden**

Spell/Field Spell

Any monster engaging in battle with a "Twilight Warrior" monster loses 500 ATK until the end of the battle phase. (Second effect to be revealed!)

**Hopeless Dragon**

8 Star/FIRE/Dragon/Synchro/Effect/ATK 3000/DEF 2000

[1 tuner + 1 or more non-tuner monsters]

(Effect to be revealed!)

**Disaster Dragon**

4 Stars/FIRE/Dragon/Tuner/ATK 1000/DEF 1000

(Effect to be revealed!)


End file.
